If you haven’t ever tried pan fried halloumi before you’re in for a real treat. Once you get over the idea of eating fried cheese, you’ll soon become addicted!
I’ve included instructions to make a super quick fresh chilli oil in the recipe. However if you wanted to take it to the next level, I recommend taking the time to make a batch of roast chilli oil (recipe here).
Chilli Oil Halloumi
Ingredients
- 1-6 small red chilli peppers finely sliced
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 250 g halloumi cheese sliced into 4 thin slices
- 2 large handfuls green beans tops trimmed (2 small bunches asparagus, bottoms trimmed)
Instructions
- Combine sliced chillies and oil in a small bowl and leave to infuse.
- Heat a large frying pan on a high heat for a few minutes.
- Add a little oil and the beans OR asparagus and pop the lid on. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Stir and add a splash of water and cook for another 2 minutes with the lid on. Or until beans or asparagus are tender.
- Transfer beans to a serving plate and reduce the heat in the pan to medium.
- Add a little more oil to the pan and cook halloumi for about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden and soft.
- Serve halloumi on top of the beans and drizzle generously with the chilli oil.
Variations
vegan / dairy-free – replace the halloumi with firm tofu or chicken. Pan fry in a similar manner, although it will take a little longer to brown up.
asparagus – I’ve made this with asparagus instead of the beans and it was just lovely.
carnivore – pan fry chorizo with the halloumi. Or pan fry some chicken thigh fillets or pork chops instead of the halloumi.
more substantial (carb lovers) – toss a drained can of white beans in with the beans to heat through for a few seconds or serve with warm flat bread, rice or quinoa.
more substantial (low carb) – add some madacamias and more halloumi.
BBQ – you could cook the beans and halloumi on a BBQ hot plate.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
chillies – freeze them.
olive oil – keep it in the pantry.
halloumi – usually has a shelf life of months if in a package because it’s quite salty. Can be frozen.
green beans, asparagus – can be frozen but best to use for another meal.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
I’m usually not big on the idea of chili oil, but I love halloumi, and this combination sounds intriguing. For a while it was difficult to find halloumi. Now I can get it, but finding red chilis is pretty much not possible here, though there is one grocery store that might have them. I’ll have to check that out. When you say small red chilis, I think of Thai bird chilis, but even though they might be easier to find, they are way too hot for me to consider.
You could use a milder chilli Susan – and it doesn’t have to be red.
I was introduced to the delights of fried halloumi only recently, although for some reason (and according to Wikipedia it has more calories per 100g than either feta or mozzarella) I don’t find it all that filling. Even with an onion and carrot added to 40 green beans for the veg, and one and a bit spicy sausages left over from another dish, I was glad that I’d also added some white (cannellini) beans. Good.
My friend Suzie recently cooked fried halloumni for me and I have some to cook on Sunday – I know what you mean about the filling factor – I’m going to have it with some fried eggs on Sunday – I think it needs the extra protein 🙂
We loved the asparagus fixed like this. And I was really impressed with how flavorful the chili oil was even though it sat for less than a half hour. The halloumi was a bit too salty for us which was okay since I didn’t season the veggies, but was not a big hit for the 2 year old.