The quick answer here is that the best choices to serve with halloumi include Greek salad, mezze platter with cold cuts and olives, pitta breads and dips, grilled prawn skewers, lemon and pomegranate couscous, and roasted vegetables.
In Cyprus, halloumi is enjoyed raw for breakfast paired with watermelon during the summer months, or added raw to a sandwich with cucumbers and tomatoes. Halloumi is also used in Cyprus as a grating cheese, perfect served on pasta tossed with chicken and lemon juice.
Popular options include salads (Greek salad) roasted vegetables, couscous, rice, or quinoa. You could also serve fried or grilled halloumi alongside some village bread, pita bread and hummus for a delicious and filling meal.
While you can eat halloumi raw, it's best enjoyed cooked. Cooking halloumi improves both its taste and texture. It becomes creamier and some of the saltiness from the brining process mellows to a pleasant amount of salty flavor.
'Halloumi is high in protein (to help you maintain and grow your lean muscle mass), contains calcium (for healthy bones and teeth), phosphorus (for bone health), zinc (for cognitive, immune and fertility functions), iodine (for thyroid and cognitive function) and vitamin A (to support your immunity, vision and skin),' ...
Bake it. Halloumi is also great baked – add slices to an ovenproof dish and drizzle with olive oil and herbs or spices. It'll need about 10-15 minutes in a 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 oven. The halloumi soaks up the flavours whilst baking so it's an easy way to add extra welly to your dishes.
Soak the halloumi in water for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours to remove the salty taste. I love the salty taste of halloumi, so I prefer not to soak it. However, if you find the kind you have to be too salty, the soak will help alleviate that. Allow the halloumi cheese to grill without touching it.
Fry. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and arrange the halloumi sticks in one single layer. Cook on each side for 1 to 2 minute over medium-high heat, managing the heat down as needed, until all sides have crisped and turned a nice golden brown. Garnish and Serve immediately!
This means that halloumi should be consumed in moderation, and it really doesn't need any added salt when preparing it. Because of its higher salt content, it's best to enjoy one to two slices of halloumi about once a week or less.
Brands vary, but feta is usually the winner. Haloumi tends to have more calories and a higher fat content. Plus, it usually has more salt. Haloumi makes a good cooking cheese thanks to its high melting point.
The UK is the largest importer of halloumi in the world, and many have offered their version as to why. Is it because, when British barbecue season rolls round, it's well-suited to the grill?
This is because, unlike many cheeses, halloumi has a high pH, as no starter cultures are used in its production. It seems that when this dense casein network “rubs” against the enamel of the teeth, it produces a squeak. Other cheeses usually have a lower pH, which tends to make the casein more fragile.
When you buy a packet of haloumi, it comes with a little salty brine. Simply patting the haloumi dry with paper towel will remove some of the saltiness, but you can also place it in a bowl of cold water to remove more of the salt, if you prefer.
Put the halloumi into a bowl and boil a kettle of water. Pour the boiling water over the halloumi and leave for 20 minutes. This will make the cheese really soft and smooth in the centre when cooked.
Halloumi is available in America, but it's quite expensive. This is because the majority of the cheese is imported from Cyprus. It can also be difficult to find as America only accounts for 10% of worldwide sales.
For the uninitiated, halloumi is a Cypriot cheese made from goat's and sheep's milk, which is made in such a way that it can not melt. Somewhat like paneer, but with a saltier taste, a firmer bite and a signature “squeaky” texture. Because it doesn't melt, it is fry-able, grill-able and oh so lovable.
Halloumi is a special and impressive cheese because of its high melting point. It can be fried in a hot pan or cooked on a 400 degree grill without melting! It will get nice and brown when fried and develop grill marks when grilled. It's somewhat soft, chewy, salty and incredibly delicious.
You can definitely eat halloumi raw. However, you don't often see uncooked halloumi served in a meal. It's definitely tastier when it's been cooked, as it's just irresistible when it's warm and squidgy - not to mention, you get those lovely crispy bits around the edges.
A little olive oil, for cooking: For pan-fried or grilled/BBQ'd halloumi, you don't necessarily need any oil. If you're using a stainless steel pan, however, lightly spraying the halloumi with a little olive oil will make absolutely sure it doesn't stick to the pan and burn.
Slice: Slice cheese into ½ inch thick slices. Prepare Grill: Grease the grill grates and light the grill. Grill: Grill the slices of halloumi for 3 minutes on the first side without touching them. Then flip and grill for 3 more minutes to get beautiful grill marks on both sides.
Nutritionally haloumi cheese contains slightly less fat (26 per cent) than regular cheddar cheese but more than double the sodium content thanks to the brine used to preserve it. Haloumi is delicious, and as such one of the biggest issues it poses is the risk of overeating.
A Cheese You Can Grill
You may be thinking this sounds messy, but Halloumi is a cheese that won't melt so it retains its texture and shape. If heated, the surface caramelizes slightly and the inside softens. The flavor is incredible, especially when still warm, and it's a really cool cheese to grill.
It is under the process of getting PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) labeled and the name is already trademark protected in the UK exclusive for Cyprus made Halloumi. Haloumi with on “l”, on the other hand, refers to the same type of cheese made somewhere else and potentially using a different kind of milk!