Try this Lemon-Tahini Cucumber Noodles with Shrimp recipe
- salt and pepper
- salt & pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon honey
- for the salad:
- for the dressing:
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- 1 small garlic clove minced
- 2 tablespoons minced parsley
- 1 large english/seedless cucumber
- 2 roma tomatoes seeded and diced
- 3 tablespoons minced mint
- 1/3 up diced red onion
- 1/3 up pitted and halved kalamata olives
- 1/2 easpoon sumac or paprika
- for the shrimp:
- 8 large or 12 small shrimp defrosted, peeled, deveined
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or to taste)
- 2 tablespoons water to thin
- Carbohydrate 7.27190999655966 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 10.292379995638 g
- Fiber 1.97743127198058 g
- Protein 3.06736687494254 g
- Saturated Fat 1.42939699939769 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (38g)
- Sodium 139.359411458004 mg
- Sugar 5.29447872457908 g
- Trans Fat 0.424996999881876 g
- Calories 124 calories
Step-by-step
- Place all of the ingredients for the dressing into a food processor and pulse until creamy. Taste and adjust to your preference, if needed. Set aside.
- Slice the cucumber halfway lengthwise and then spiralize it. Pat the noodles dry with paper towels and then place in a large mixing bowl, along with the tomato, mint, parsley and onion. Set aside.
- Place a medium skillet over medium-high heat and add in the oil. Once oil heats, add in the shrimp and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook for 2 minutes, flip over and cook another 2 minutes or until shrimp are opaque and cooked through.
- Transfer the cucumber mixture to a plate, top with dressing and then shrimp. Sprinkle over with sumac (or paprika) and enjoy.
Raw cucumber ribbons require moisture management that a standard ingredient list omits entirely. English cucumbers possess high water content, which rapidly dilutes dressings if the vegetable goes straight from the blade to the bowl. Salting the spiralized strands draws out excess liquid through osmosis before the dressing applies. Tahini behaves unpredictably when straight lemon juice hits it; the paste seizes and tightens into a thick clump before smoothing out with added water.
Controlling Moisture and Heat
Patting spiralized cucumbers dry with paper towels prevents the tahini sauce from sliding off the strands into a watery puddle at the bottom of the plate. When searing shrimp in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, look for the flesh to turn completely opaque and curl into a loose "C" shape, which signals doneness at roughly two minutes per side. Overcooking transforms shellfish into a rubbery texture.
- Skipping the paper towel drying step leaves excess surface moisture that ruins emulsion adherence.
- Adding lemon juice to tahini without thinning water first causes immediate seizing.
- Flipping shrimp too early prevents proper crust development.
