By Chaya Rappoport
This recipe originally appeared on The Nosher.
Cheeselovers who haven’t tried halloumi, meet your new obsession.
Halloumiis a semi-hard cheese originating in Cyprus. Made from sheep’s milk, the brinyyet mild cheese is popular in Greece and the Middle East, and increasingly inAmerica, too. In Israel, you can find halloumi on practically every cafe menu.
Itsreal magic lies in its high melting point: Halloumi can be grilled or friedwithout falling apart or melting into a pile of hot (delicious) cheese.Instead, it takes on beautiful grill marks, a golden outside hue, and gets warmand just gooey enough in the middle. A total win in my book.
Halloumi is delicious when servedsimply, so I like to use it as a substitute for feta cheese in Greek salad. Itssaltiness is similar to feta, but it has a completely different texture. Andwhen fried, it gets gooey and warm, making it a nice contrast in cool, summersalads. I strongly recommend you season the cheese before frying it, as itis slightly less salty than feta.
Greek Salad with Fried Halloumi Cheese
Ingredients
For the dressing
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- 1 small garlic clove crushed
- pinch of red pepper flake
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
For the salad
- 1 small red onion thinly sliced in half-moons
- 1 Persian cucumber finely diced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/2 cup olives pitted
- 8 ounces halloumi cheese cubed
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons canola or olive oil for frying cheese
Instructions
- Make the dressing: Stir together all the ingredients except for the oil until well combined. Then whisk in the oil slowly to emulsify.
- In a large bowl, toss together the onion, cucumber, tomatoes and olives. In a separate small bowl, toss the halloumi cubes with salt and pepper to season them.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the halloumi cubes over medium heat for about 2 minutes on each side, until golden and slightly soft inside. Remove from pan and set aside on a paper towel-lined plate.
- Toss the salad vegetables with the dressing, turning them over with your hands to make sure everything is lightly coated. Add the halloumi cubes to the salad and toss gently to combine.
- Divide the salad among 2 plates and serve immediately. Serves 2.
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Each month, Jmore is giving away $50 gift cards to some of our favorite local restaurants. Here are the official rules.