Grilled Halloumi Cheese

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Full recipe

More and more often, Halloumi cheese is appearing on store shelves in Europe and the United States. As it happens, I have been familiar with this product since a family trip to Cyprus in 2018, so I have a lot to share with you.

In order to cook halloumi correctly and deliciously, it is necessary to understand its properties. Therefore, I will list a few interesting facts and characteristics, and then let’s move directly to the recipe.

Haloumi or Halloumi cheese has been known for over 600 years. It was made by the inhabitants of the Levant, the eastern countries of the Mediterranean Sea. The main raw material was the milk of sheep and goats. But the cheese has gained wide popularity just in Cyprus, where the corresponding trademark is registered with a regional reference. At the moment, cow’s milk is cheaper and more popular, so most of the producers cook with it.

A distinctive feature of halloumi is its high melting point. It is this factor that allows the cheese to be grilled or fried without much risk. In its raw form, halloumi, in taste and consistency, resembles a hard mozzarella or suluguni. The cheese is a little crunchy on the teeth and has a certain layering. It can also be eaten raw, but I’ll be honest, it’s not at all as tasty as it is when fried. Most often we grill cheese in the summer, on the barbecue, but at home it is also a frequent guest on our table. To fry halloumi at home, I try to use a grill pan to get nice ruddy streaks, like a steak.

Grilled cheese in a regular pan will not taste any different than the grilled version. I use two bars of halloumi in this recipe, with and without mint, but you can cook as much as you like.

I should note right away that mint cheese is spicy, so it’s less often used as an ingredient for future salads. But as a stand-alone snack, it’s just perfect.

Using a cooking brush, rub the halloumi with olive oil on all sides. Then carefully wrap in baking paper and place on a heated frying pan.

When cooking on the grill, of course, we skip the paper point so it doesn’t burn, but for a skillet it’s a great way to keep the cheese juicy.

Fact

Since halloumi melts at a high temperature, but we do not want to get a burnt crust, we use medium heat. Our goal is to get the center of the cheese hot enough to make it sticky.

The frying process takes no more than 10 minutes. I try to turn the bar once a minute to achieve even heating.

When we see that the cheese has become soft and the paper has tan stripes on it, take the halloumi off the fire. Remove the halloumi from the paper, put it on a plate and slice it into portions.

Now it is completely ready to eat. Most often, halloumi is eaten with sliced vegetables or vegetable salads. Sometimes they are put directly into a salad and eaten as such.

Also, no one prevents you from making an extra sauce under the roasted halloumi, for example, as for baked camembert.

Personally, I like halloumi for its unusual creamy flavor and ease of cooking. I also just love the crust that comes out after frying. There is no other cheese like it!

Bon appetit! Don’t starve 😋