Halloumi is somehow the Greek equivalent of mozzarella. Alright, if you want a debate, you can say halloumi is actually a Cypriot, a Turkish or an Arabian cheese, following the “sarmalele (traditional stuffed cabbage rolls) aren’t Romanian” or “the gulyas is Hungarian, not Austrian” pattern. The point is that I ate raw halloumi and I wasn’t impressed at all, it was like a piece of paraffin. After I fried it in a hot skillet with a thin layer of oil, the situation changed. All of a sudden, my piece of cheese had a different texture, suddenly it looked different and it had taste. I repeated the operation in several days of the Corfiot vacation that I’ve just ended, to convince myself that the first time wasn’t just an accident. The results were similar, which made me believe it wasn’t an accident after all.
Therefore, I cut the cheese into one centimeter thick slices. I fried it for over a minute on each side.
I paired it with a simple salad, made with bell peppers, tomatoes and olives marinated in oil with aromatic herbs.
Black coffee, wholegrain bread and a few slices of pepper salami. Breakfast is ready.
Almost ready. I also made a poached egg, well fried, which I shredded in the salad.
A different day, the same cheese, plus a piece of feta cheese. There were cherry tomatoes this time.
I dipped the cheese through a mixture of salt, red pepper and white pepper before frying it.
The piece of feta cheese remained raw, but I used the same seasoning.
This was the result and it was really good.
If you start craving and you can’t find halloumi, use cow and sheep telemea (Romanian traditional cheese), slightly drier. Stay healthy.
Special thanks to
Oana Bodnariuc, Authorized Translator
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