Golden Halloumi with Honey and Thyme

September 6, 2024

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By:Nagi

Revealed: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 primary salad a lot extra attention-grabbing!

Fried halloumi

It’s unimaginable 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, attempt it with a drizzle of honey, sprinkle of recent thyme and pinch of purple pepper flakes. It’s Outrageously Scrumptious (caps intentional) and a fantastic 2-second-way to decorate up halloumi once you’ve obtained firm.

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

The golden guidelines of halloumi cooking

It simply so occurs that whereas I’m penning this submit, 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, in regards to the golden guidelines of cooking halloumi. Right here’s what it is advisable know!

Get Actual Halloumi from Cyprus: For the perfect outcomes, use genuine Cypriot halloumi. Decrease high quality or imitation varieties gained’t offer you that excellent golden crust and should crumble when cooked!
Minimize it Thick: Slice your halloumi 1 – 1.25cm / 0.4 – 0.5″ thick. Thicker than you suppose! It shrinks about 30% throughout cooking, so thicker slices guarantee a delicate, juicy inside moderately than a dry one.
Use Oil: Don’t skimp on the oil! Halloumi wants it to attain a golden, crispy exterior. With out oil, it would simply burn, brown erratically and definitely gained’t get crisp.
Pat the Slices Dry: Dry the slices completely 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 containers. Now halloumi lovers all over the 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’ll fry up golden on the floor and be delicate on the within. Economical manufacturers might be rubbery on the within (even when scorching), 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). It is a mark of excellence that proves a merchandise’ high quality and can’t be used on any product made exterior 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 elements, and if you happen to attempt to take it additional it simply burns and doesn’t go crispy. So, if you’d like 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 should use further virgin olive oil right here as a result of we’re not high-temp cooking, don’t use your good things. Save that for salads and ending dishes!

For the HONEY THYME end (OPTIONAL)

Honey – Or maple syrup, although I personally suppose that the flavour of honey pairs higher. It’s additionally thicker so clings higher.
Contemporary thyme leaves – It’s simply such a fantastic earthy flavour that works so effectively with the salty-sweet mixture occurring 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 (purple pepper flakes) – That is non-compulsory, so as to add the tiniest refined trace of heat to this dish and likewise add some beautiful purple flecks. For me, it’s simply a simple approach so as to add an additional contact to this dish, however as I discussed, it’s 100% non-compulsory!

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

recent oregano (roughly chopped)
walnuts (walnuts + honey is such a fantastic, 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

The way to make golden pan-fried Halloumi

Good and easy, however please be aware of how thick to chop the slices and patting them dry earlier than cooking!

Minimize 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 submit)✨

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

Prepare dinner – Warmth the oil over medium-high warmth in a non stick pan. Place the halloumi within the pan fastidiously – it would splutter! I exploit my arms to I can deal with the items fastidiously. Prepare dinner for 1 1/2 minutes or till the underside is golden. Initially, they are going to 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 – Whenever you see the perimeters of the underside grow to be golden, that’s a great signal that the entire underside the golden.
Fastidiously flip (I exploit 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 are going to braise and by no means go golden!
⚠️ Transfer the slices round if wanted in order that they cook dinner evenly, however the extra you may depart them undistributed, the extra even the golden floor.

Switch straight onto the serving plate. You’ll be able to serve it identical to that (which is unquestionably the commonest approach I eat halloumi!) or end it with the honey and thyme.
End – Working rapidly (so you will get it to the desk whereas the centres are nonetheless heat and delicate!), 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 most likely the commonest approach I serve it (with and with out the honey). I cook dinner it up when I’ve a number of spare minutes then go it round. I actually attempt to minimise cooking time when associates are round however it is a nice one to do as a result of it’s so fast!
As a part of a cheese board unfold. It’s at all times 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 scorching!) 😂
On a salad. Take a bowl of plain leafy greens and plonk a number of fried halloumi’s on prime and woah! All of the sudden that boring salad is a lot extra thrilling – and passes as a meal, at that! Or, particularly, attempt including halloumi onto considered one of these salads to dial them up a notch (skip or scale back any pre-existing cheese in these recipes):

Simply to flag a number of stand-outs: I believe 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 could be a house run).

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