Golden Halloumi with Honey and Thyme

September 6, 2024

6

By:Nagi

Printed:6 Sep ’24Up to date:6 Sep ’24

Right here’s an unbelievably scrumptious 5 minute halloumi recipe: pan fried golden, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with thyme. It’s a stellar mixture of flavours – salty, candy and earthy herb. Nice starter, snack, or make a fundamental salad a lot extra attention-grabbing!

Fried halloumi

It’s not possible to withstand devouring golden fried halloumi straight from the pan, when it’s crispy on the floor and gooey inside. And why ought to we? It’s so nice plain!

However in the future, strive it with a drizzle of honey, sprinkle of recent thyme and pinch of crimson pepper flakes. It’s Outrageously Scrumptious (caps intentional) and a terrific 2-second-way to decorate up halloumi if you’ve obtained firm.

Serve with heat pita bread, olives, and good olive oil for a easy but totally pleasant starter!

The golden guidelines of halloumi cooking

It simply so occurs that whereas I’m scripting this put up, I’m at my hairdresser, Deange Hair which is owned by Greek sisters. So I’m sitting right here with my head filled with goop, have an enthusiastic dialogue with Angela, the youthful sister, concerning the golden guidelines of cooking halloumi. Right here’s what it’s good to know!

Get Actual Halloumi from Cyprus: For one of the best outcomes, use genuine Cypriot halloumi. Decrease high quality or imitation varieties received’t offer you that excellent golden crust and should crumble when cooked!
Lower it Thick: Slice your halloumi 1 – 1.25cm / 0.4 – 0.5″ thick. Thicker than you assume! It shrinks about 30% throughout cooking, so thicker slices guarantee a gentle, juicy inside moderately than a dry one.
Use Oil: Don’t skimp on the oil! Halloumi wants it to realize a golden, crispy exterior. With out oil, it would simply burn, brown erratically and positively received’t get crisp.
Pat the Slices Dry: Dry the slices totally earlier than cooking. This step prevents the scorching and spitting of water on preliminary contact, resulting in a greater crust.

Angela’s recommendation is spot on, and I used to be grateful that I checked all her bins. Now halloumi fans in every single place can cook dinner it completely too! Who knew a hair appointment might double as a cheese tutorial!? 🧀✨

(I do know what you’re considering, and NO you aren’t going to get a photograph of me with goop in my hair!!)

What you want

For the crispy golden pan fried halloumi

Simply halloumi and olive oil for cooking!

Halloumi – The model you get issues! Actual halloumi is from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, not Greece. It can fry up golden on the floor and be gentle on the within. Economical manufacturers could be rubbery on the within (even when sizzling), or be so bloated with brine they appear to endlessly leech water as they cook dinner and *by no means* go golden, whereas others are simply oddly dry and crumbly.

Search for halloumi with “PDO” on the packet label (Protected Designation of Origin). This can be a mark of excellence that proves a merchandise’ high quality and can’t be used on any product made outdoors of Cyprus. I get Alambra and Dodoni manufacturers.

Olive oil – Although some recipes don’t use oil to cook dinner halloumi, you actually do want a contact of oil to get a pleasant golden crust on the halloumi. With out, you simply get patchy brown components, and in case you attempt to take it additional it simply burns and doesn’t go crispy. So, if you need a very nice golden crispy halloumi, don’t skip the oil!

I like to make use of olive oil as a result of it has extra flavour than unflavoured oils like canola oil and so forth. Whereas you need to use further virgin olive oil right here as a result of we’re not high-temp cooking, don’t use your great things. Save that for salads and ending dishes!

For the HONEY THYME end (OPTIONAL)

Honey – Or maple syrup, although I personally assume that the flavour of honey pairs higher. It’s additionally thicker so clings higher.
Recent thyme leaves – It’s simply such a terrific earthy flavour that works so properly with the salty-sweet mixture happening right here! I wouldn’t substitute with dried thyme, it’s simply not the identical. However, hand on coronary heart, that is nonetheless price making with simply honey!
Chilli flakes (crimson pepper flakes) – That is elective, so as to add the tiniest refined trace of heat to this dish and likewise add some pretty crimson flecks. For me, it’s simply a simple method so as to add an additional contact to this dish, however as I discussed, it’s 100% elective!

Different sprinkling / drizzling choices I’ve used and loved through the years:

recent oregano (roughly chopped)
walnuts (walnuts + honey is such a terrific, Greek-vibes combo)
different nuts (almonds and pistachios come to thoughts)
white sesame seeds
lemon juice or lemon zest
swish of additional virgin olive oil

Methods to make golden pan-fried Halloumi

Good and easy, however please pay attention to how thick to chop the slices and patting them dry earlier than cooking!

Lower the halloumi into 1 – 1.25 cm / 0.4 – 0.5″ thick slices. Any thinner, and also you’ll find yourself with halloumi chips. ✨This is without doubt one of the Golden Guidelines of Halloumi cooking! (See prime of put up)✨

I get 7 to eight slices out of a typical 225 – 250g/8 oz block.
Dry – Lay the slices out on paper towels then pat the floor dry as properly. Don’t press down laborious, we simply need to blot extra moisture off the floor.

Cook dinner – Warmth the oil over medium-high warmth in a non stick pan. Place the halloumi within the pan rigorously – it would splutter! I take advantage of my arms to I can deal with the items rigorously. Cook dinner for 1 1/2 minutes or till the underside is golden. Initially, they may leech water (the brine contained in the cheese) then ones the water evaporates that’s when the underside will begin to get color.

When to show – Once you see the perimeters of the underside change into golden, that’s a very good signal that the entire underside the golden.
Rigorously flip (I take advantage of a spatula and a butter knife) then cook dinner the opposite facet for round 1 to 1 1/2 minutes till golden.

⚠️ Don’t attempt to cook dinner too many slices within the pan on the similar time, else they may braise and by no means go golden!
⚠️ Transfer the slices round if wanted so that they cook dinner evenly, however the extra you may go away them undistributed, the extra even the golden floor.

Switch straight onto the serving plate. You possibly can serve it similar to that (which is unquestionably the most typical method I eat halloumi!) or end it with the honey and thyme.
End – Working shortly (so you will get it to the desk whereas the centres are nonetheless heat and gentle!), drizzle with honey, sprinkle with thyme and chilli flakes, then serve it asap!

How I eat fried halloumi

So as of frequency:

With arms, straight off the plate, as a starter. That is in all probability the most typical method I serve it (with and with out the honey). I cook dinner it up when I’ve just a few spare minutes then go it round. I actually attempt to minimise cooking time when buddies are round however this can be a nice one to do as a result of it’s so fast!
As a part of a cheese board unfold. It’s all the time the primary to go (often as a result of I put it down and flap my arms round insisting that everybody eat up, eat up, whereas it’s sizzling!) 😂
On a salad. Take a bowl of plain leafy greens and plonk just a few fried halloumi’s on prime and woah! Out of the blue that boring salad is a lot extra thrilling – and passes as a meal, at that! Or, particularly, strive including halloumi onto one in every of these salads to dial them up a notch (skip or cut back any pre-existing cheese in these recipes):

Simply to flag just a few stand-outs: I feel the Pear Salad wold be spectacular with halloumi as a substitute of blue cheese (fruit + salty cheese + honey + nuts = 💯) as would the French Heat Goats Cheese Salad (made with halloumi as a substitute of goats cheese) and the Pearl Couscous Salad (I really feel like halloumi + vivid lemon dressing + slippery garlicky pearl couscous can be a house run).

Or – simply skip the greenery and follow my #1 technique of consuming it: with arms, standing within the kitchen! 😂 – Nagi x