Thursday, March 6, 2008

Rock Melon Prawn Salad

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Chilled rock melon salad--perfect for those sizzling days.

Those of you who knew me from way back would have eaten this salad many times. So yes, this is one of my signature dishes. This is a salad I like to serve at barbies and bring to potluck dinners because it can be made hours ahead, there's minimal cooking and a bit of this and that make a big bowl. And of course, because it is refreshing, creamy and yummy, especially with grilled or barbied meat.

This salad started out as an all-melon salad but slowly through the years as rock melon (cantaloupe in North America) from Australia went up to RM20/US$6/kg, I had to cut back on the melon and use mixed fruit cocktail from the can. You may say I'm cheap but strangely enough, the salad seems even better with fruit cocktail. Just make sure you don't get the tropical fruit cocktail because that's full of mushy papaya. And don't use any other mayo but Kraft's Miracle Whip; it was made for sweet salads like these. I find that the best pasta shape for this salad is the spirals. Didn't have any in my cupboard so it's macaroni salad pasta that I used today.

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Rock Melon Prawn Salad (makes a ton)
1/2 large rock melon
1 x 850g can of mixed fruit cocktail (or use a whole melon)
1 kg medium-sized fresh prawns
200g pasta* (small shapes, preferably spirals)
2 stalks celery
1 to 1 1/2 cups Miracle Whip (or enough to coat ingredients)
3 T tomato ketchup or Thousand Island dressing

* for this salad to taste really good, there should be more fruits to pasta.

1. Boil the pasta in plenty of UNSALTED water until softer than usual (the pasta will firm up when chilled). Drain very well and let cool. Then put into fridge and chill.

2. Remove heads of prawns and lift the dirt veins out using a metal or wooden skewer. Put prawns in a small pot of boiling water and when water boils, stir, let it boil again and strain under running water. Drain well and remove the shells when cool. Cut into small pieces. Mix in the tomato ketchup or Thousand Island dressing and put into the fridge to chill.

3. Cut the celery into very small bits. Cut the melon into thumb-nail bits. If using fruit coctail, drain well and squeeze the fruits gently to remove some syrup. Mix with the celery and chill.

4. Half an hour before serving, mix the pasta, prawns, fruits and mayo thoroughly and arrange some whole cooked prawns (sliced half horizontally) on top if like.

12 comments:

ekeng said...

what is rock melon? is it honeydew? I always make mistake..I tot it was same :)

Mandy said...

what? RM20 for a rock melon! That's insane. I would be happy to substitute that with mango. :)
btw, I bought a rock melon that's $1.5 for one last week, but it wasn't sweet at all! :(

wmw said...

Gosh! That pic is just so tantalising! I love rock melons, the good ones are pricey but I just love them :o)

Anonymous said...

Yes, I remember your wonderfully delicious rock melon prawn salad since I've known you since way back when. Do you know that we have known each other for 20 yrs?
I must say it has been a blessing knowing you.

Your friend, Raina

Precious Pea said...

Wahh..can almost taste it in my mouth. I love melons, will give your recipe a try when i do bbq at home.

Hazza said...

This sounds lovely. I've never seen or made it before. This can be easily subbed with Honeydew melon as they are so similar. fortunately, we can get Rock (Cantaloupe) Melon here in UK cheaply. Currently ukp1 at Tesco. Last month, I got two for ukp1 at a market. Very sweet too! However, Miracle Whip can only be bought via internet / mail order from specialist shops here. But I must try this sometime.

JOjo said...

Greeted by the sight of your lovely pic!

You take very good pictures!!!

Alan said...

procrastination takes many forms these days but jumping to take a quick peek at your blog from Yi's blog was def a worthy sidetrack from studying. this recipe sounds so simple! not sure if i can get miracle whip here in Aus......

Alan Lim

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

ekeng: no, rock melon is orangey in color, honeydew is light green and the flavor is different.

mandy: it's rm20 per kg, so usually about rm28 per melon!! oh yes, mango would be absolutely fine.

wmw: me too, me too :)

raina: tt ling ah?! and I thank God for a friend like you too, really do :)

preciousp: very cheap in Melb...

hazza: no, don't sub with honeydew. it's not as good. if you can't find Miracle Whip, i guess use the Japanese kewpie mayo with a dollop of dariy cream?

jojo: tt's nice to know altho i really don't think so.

alan: yes, do take a break now n then n come chat with me. say hi to ur mom n pop. the barbie was good, so was the company. nice yard too. thanks for inviting us :)

Anonymous said...

umm Terri... do u make Tiramisu? U know, for the occasional indulgence? ;-p I'm making this Salad for Home Group this Friday btw... ;-))

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

jackson: it is, try it.

didi: i do, n i unabashedly declare my tiramisu recipe as the best i've come across, for the taste n also bc it doesn't use raw egg yolks unlike all other recipes. will do it soon ok:)

Anonymous said...

Yay! No raw eggs! Looking forward to it then. ;-))

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