Treat your guests to grilled haloumi with pomegranate and sumac dressing
If there is one ingredient that is sure to be a crowd pleaser, it’s haloumi. The squeaky, salty grilled cheese is the stuff dreams are made of, and is a staple in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking. On his travels through Lebanon, award-winning Maltese-Australian chef Shane Delia noticed haloumi everywhere – from street corners to renowned restaurants. While driving from Beirut to Sidon, he stopped on the side of the road at a simple store with a line out the door, where a moustachioed man was making fresh cheese sandwiches, with nothing but a toaster, olive oil, some labneh, haloumi, a pile of fresh flat bread, spices and a few other bits and pieces. He made Shane a toasted sandwich with haloumi and za’atar drizzled with olive oil and local sea salt, which inspired this recipe of grilled haloumi with pomegranate and sumac dressing from Shane’s latest book, Spice Journey.
INGREDIENTS
1 teaspoon pepitas (pumpkin seeds), toasted
seeds from 1 small pomegranate
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon za’atar (or dried thyme)
1 cocktail onion, finely diced
1 teaspoon pine nuts, toasted
1 tablespoon sumac
a few rosemary sprigs
150 ml olive oil
pinch of salt flakes
300 g haloumi cheese, sliced into 1 cm thick portions
TO MAKE
Combine all the ingredients, except the haloumi, in a mixing bowl. Check for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
Heat a large chargrill pan or frying pan over high heat. Add the haloumi and cook for one minute on each side or until golden. Press the haloumi with a spatula – when there is no resistance the haloumi is cooked. Remove the haloumi from the pan and transfer onto paper towel to drain, then divide among serving plates.
Drizzle over the pomegranate and sumac dressing and serve immediately.
Serves eight.
Recipes and images from Spice Journey by Shane Delia, published by Murdoch Books.
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