What is Halloumi?

Halloumi is to the Cypriots what feta is to the Greeks and brie to the French: a source of national pride.

This firm and savory cheese is a Cypriot delicacy, traditionally made by combining goat’s and sheep’s milk with mint—however, many manufacturers mix in cow’s milk for practical reasons. Halloumi has a saltier flavor than other white cheeses you might be familiar with, as well as a slightly higher fat content. It’s also rich in protein and calcium, both of which are essential elements of a healthy diet.

Halloumi has a high melting point of 275°F which makes it ideal for pan-frying or grilling, as it holds its shape even when subjected to very hot temperatures.

In recent years, its rise in popularity has made halloumi available in most supermarkets where you can find it next to other white cheeses such as feta and mozzarella. Halloumi-like products are also available in supermarkets, sometimes going by the generic name “grilled cheese” because authentic Cypriot halloumi can only come from Cyprus, just as authentic Greek feta can only come from Greece. I recommend buying real halloumi whenever possible, to ensure that you get the purest quality and best results with my recipes.

Introduction

The idea for this book came to me several years ago, when I stopped eating meat. I missed many of the recipes I used to make, and even though I no longer ate beef I still appreciated a good burger. At the same time, I found it difficult to adapt my eating habits to a vegetarian diet and didn’t feel like changing them just because I no longer used that one ingredient. And so I began to think of ways to avoid giving up all the dishes I was so fond of. When my girlfriend introduced me to halloumi, it was as if all the pieces fell back into place: I could keep cooking the food I loved without meat. With this book, I hope to inspire more people to try halloumi, through a collection of recipes that range from well-known classics from the global kitchen, to family favorites and original creations from my own kitchen. Halloumi makes for a perfect meat substitute in my opinion, but it’s also a wonderful addition to meat-based dishes. In fact, halloumi tastes great with almost anything and I would go so far as to say that many of the dishes I used to make have improved since I made the switch. That’s why none of the recipes in this book include meat—even those that typically would—because I want to show how easy it is to use halloumi as an equally tasty substitute.

While most of the recipes in this book will likely look familiar to you, some might seem completely foreign. However, all of the recipes have one thing in common: They are designed to be simple and easy to make. There is nothing more frustrating than having to figure out a recipe that asks for ingredients you’ve never heard of, or requires you to stand in the kitchen for hours with a bunch of fancy kitchen appliances you might never use again. I wanted to show that almost any dish can be improved by adding halloumi, and that vegetarian cooking is so much more than bitter greens and salads—although I would be lying if I said I haven’t included a few scrumptious salad recipes, with halloumi straight from the grill.

I have done my absolute best to ensure that each recipe uses as few ingredients as possible, because I often find impossibly long and complicated ingredient lists a pain to work with. That’s why I’ve crafted each recipe to be simple and flavorful, so that anyone can experience the wonderful taste of halloumi. I hope you’ll love it as much as I do. Enjoy!