Halloumi

Last week I made burgers. They were very good but as Steve (via Facebook) pointed out, they were lacking a slab of halloumi. We have never seen halloumi cheese in Morocco. In the village, there is only one sort of cheese for sale, which looks a like Edam but is completely tasteless. Seems the only way to get halloumi is to make it ourselves.

Halloumi is a little more involved to make than paneer. In particular, you need to use rennet so that the curds can be separated at a low temperature. I use a vegetarian rennet that comes in tablets and stores well. You will also need a thermometer. First job is to warm the milk to 32°C. Stir in the rennet and leave to cool for an hour. Gently slice the very thin curds into 1” cubes and then slowly, over 20 minutes, warm the mixture up to 38°C. The curds start to separate now and sink to the bottom of the pan. Scoop the curds out into a colander lined with cheesecloth. Drain the excess liquid and then press into a layer about 1cm thick. I use an inclined wooden board that drains into the sink with something flat on top, a baking tray, and a pan with four litres of water to apply the correct pressure. Leave for an hour.

Now the cheese needs to be ‘cooked’. Heat the pan of whey up to 90°C. Cut the sheet of cheese into rectangular pieces and put them into the whey. The cheese is soft and fragile so this needs to be done carefully. A steel spatula (fish slice) is handy.  Bring the whey up to 95°C and then switch the heat off and leave, with the lid on, for an hour. The cheese will be floating on top. It is still fragile. Scoop it out to drain, cool and become much firmer. The halloumi tastes great if it is grilled or fried. For the burgers, I fried the halloumi gently in olive oil.

The remaining whey can be used for several things. I tried giving some to my dog once. He though it was great but more than a cupful upsets his stomach. Add some salt to the whey, boil it up and pour over halloumi in a sealable container. The cheese can now be kept in the fridge for several weeks. Whey can also be used for bread making in place of water. This works very well when making a dough for naan breads.

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The burgers are based on a Jamie Oliver recipe. Tip a tin (400g) of sweetcorn and a tin of chickpeas (drained) into the food processor along with four tbps of flour. Spice it up. I use a tsp each of cumin, coriander and turmeric. 2 tsp of a good smoky paprika. A smidge of salt and a dash of Liquid Smoke. Fresh lemon zest and chopped coriander. Wizz until everything is mixed together but stop before you make a puree. Make into six patties. I just use my hands for this, which can get a bit messy. Freeze the burgers to make them more manageable.

The chilli sauce is also made using a food processor. Red bell peppers (Capsicum), chilli peppers, tomato, zest and juice from a lime, handful of fresh coriander. Proportions as shown in the picture. Wizz to a pleasing consistency. I prefer to stop while there is still a bit of texture. There are a lot of easy variations you can do on this theme. Use green peppers and green chillies to make a green sauce but don’t mix red and green because it can turn a nasty brown colour. The tomato should be properly ripe and bright red. You do know to never, ever put tomatoes in a fridge? Use lime or lemon. Today limes was all that the local shop had. With the coriander, I tend to use stalks more than the leaves. Save the leaves for cooking. Can also be made with green tomatoes or tomatillos. The long, sweet peppers work very well. Obviously, you should adjust the use of chillies according to the type of chilli and how hot you like it. Jalapenos are my favourite for this. The little chillies I bought here are fiercely hot and need to be treated with caution.

The bread rolls are a standard white bread dough. 500g flour, 320 ml water, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp yeast and half tsp salt. Mix into a dough and knead for 15 minutes. Allow to rise until the volume has doubled. This usually takes two to three hours. Turn out and make into individual rolls. Allow to rest for half an hour and then bake at 200°C. Just before they go into the oven, slash the tops with a sharp knife. This helps them rise. Then brush with a little milk and sprinkle a few sesame seeds. This adds a little taste but mostly makes them look nice for burgers.

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Final stage is to fry the burgers and the halloumi. Cut the bread rolls open and toast them lightly on the inside to add a little bit of crunch. Prepare some lettuce and tomato. Assemble immediately before serving.

By the time I’d finished messing around with the cooking it had gone dark. Fortunately it was a warm night and the late hour did ensure that my testers were suitably hungry.

Blessed are the cheese makers.

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