HALOUMI- IS THERE ANYTHING TASTIER?

Not in my opinion! I actually find myself craving haloumi more than I crave chocolate. I got my first taste of this scrupulous cheese over two years ago in a little hole in the wall Greek restaurant in New York City and I was hooked. Until I discovered that it wasn't cheap when I moved out of home. Now let me revise 'cheap'- I thought it was going to be the same price as Coles brand cheese. Innocence is truly bliss. But a few months ago I had a particularly intense craving and decided to buy a small 180g amount of haloumi. I make a chicken, sweet potato, rocket and haloumi salad with dijon dressing which blew my mind. The small amount of haloumi in that salad increased the flavour of the dish immensely. And, might I add, the cheese increased the fun of eating. I found myself joyful whenever I discovered a bite size piece of haloumi on my fork hiding within all the vegetables and meat.

So, after reading that little anecdote, you can begin to understand my love for haloumi. It runs deep and knows no boundaries. My mother recently gave me a Weight Watchers Cookbook called 'Eat & Enjoy' (I believe this book has graced this blog already) and I found a Haloumi recipe in there. I don't think that I need to tell you how ecstatic I was. Here is it:

HALOUMI WITH FATTOUSH 

Ingredients 

• 2 x 67g large pita breads, torn 
• I used smaller pita breads, probably equaling to 70g in total. Alternatively you can use other bread that you have on hand. This recipe would also work with gluten free bread. I particularly like the Sol breads rice & pumpkin bread. 
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoon sumac 
• Sumac is a purple-red spice with a tangy flavour. It looks a bit questionable in colour, but trust me, this spice makes this dish! along with the haloumi of course. You can find sumac in the spice isle of most supermarkets. 
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 lebanese cucumbers, chopped
• 180g haloumi, thickly/thinly sliced 
• store in brine when opened- I always try to buy haloumi in brine as it seems to be a little less dry than other brands. I sliced the haloumi thinly in an effort to trick myself into thinking that I was eating more of it!

Cooking 

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 160 fan forced. Place bread on baking tray and bake for around 5 minutes or until crisp. Cool. 

2. Combine onion, juice, oil and sumac in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes. Add tomato, cucumber and bread and toss. 

3. Lightly spray a non-stick frying pan with olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Cook haloumi for 1-2 minutes each side or until golden but not dark brown. Top fattoush (salad mixture) with haloumi and serve. 

x E