Homemade Halloumi recipe
4.8
From 4 ratings
Prep Time
1hr 30min
Cook Time
20min
Total Time
1hr 50min

Halloumi is a fresh salty cheese used a lot in Mediterranean cuisine and has gained popularity amongst different cultures in different variations. But making at home is really simple. Grab a couple of ingredients from your local cheese shop and get to work.

Ingredients

10 Servings

Mise en place

  • You will need some full cream milk
  • some vegetable rennet
  • calcium chloride and salt
  • It is also quite beneficial to have a probe thermometer

How to make Homemade Halloumi

Curdling the milk

  1. Heat 5 lts of full cream high quality milk to 42 degrees celsius slowly and stirring continuously.

  2. Add 1.2ml of each of rennet and calcium chloride and stir vigorously for 30 secs

  3. Leave the milk at 42degrees undisturbed for 1 hour

Cutting the curd

  1. Take the milk of the heat. By now it should be set. Using a long knife cut the set milk all the way to the bottom into 2x2cm pieces. Leave undisturbed for 30 mins

  2. Stir the curds to break them down further and leave undisturbed again for 30 mins

  3. Drain the curds in a strainer lined with a cheeseclothand leave hanging overnight. Make sure to save all the whey.

Cook/brine the cheese

  1. Cut the set halloumi into preferred size of portions. I usually go generous with 150gms. Bring the whey to a simmer and gently put the halloumi in the whey. Wait for it to start floating indicating that the cheese is cooked. Take it out of the whey with a strainer and straightaway place it into a 3.5% salt brine. Repeat process until all halloumi is cooked. Leave the cheese to brine overnight minimum

  2. Serve up by pan frying some well drained halloumi with some toast and pat yourself on the back for trying to create something from scratch. You will never use store bought halloumi again

Tips & Tricks

  1. Invest in good cheese making equipment such as muslin cloth, rennet and calcium chloride. They will last for ages and will motivate you to try the process more often. Yes it takes 2 days. Yes it'll take up extra space in your fridge. But it will definitely be worth it and it maybe time consuming but it isnt labour intensive.

Reviews

4.8
From 4 ratings
c

camilam

Easy to follow instructions and delicious results.

m

mm2007

n

noodleninja

k

Recipe by

Kartik Madan

(@kartik7179)

Professional chef. Living in Australia. Experienced with european, latin and asian cuisine. Currently into fermentation and pickles.