Tag Archives: vegetarian

You had me at ‘fried cheese’ …

General, , ,

Without a doubt – my favourite salad in the entire world.  You can add all sorts of things to this – peppers (aka capsicum), chili’s, mix it up with some cilantro (aka fresh coriander) or roasted butternut squash (aka pumpkin)— the sky is the limit!  Just don’t make the same mistake I did when I tried to make this the first time…havarti is not the same as haloumi (havarti will melt!)

Haloumi with Lentil Salad 3 

Make the lentil salad an hour or so before grilling the haloumi — this will allow the lentils to soak up the yummy flavours — tastes great the next day too! 

Haloumi and lentil salad

Serves four

  • 2 x 400g cans brown lentils, drained, rinsed
  • 1/2 – 1 small red onion, thinly sliced (depends on how much you like onion)
  • 1 English cucumber, halved, sliced (about 1 cup total)
  • 3tomatoes, chopped (or 1 cup of cherry tomatoes)
  • 3/4 cup mint leaves, shredded
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 250g block haloumi cheese
  • 2 tablespoons plain flour
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • Salt and pepper to season

Combine lentils, onion, cucumber, tomatoes, mint, lemon juice and oil in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix to combine.  Allow this to hang out for an hour if you can, if you cant — its still good!

Cut haloumi lengthways into about 8 slices. Pat-dry with paper towels. Dust lightly with flour and shake off excess.

Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Cook haloumi, in batches, for 2 minutes each side, or until golden.  Drain

Top the salad with the haloumi — done!

Haloumi with Lentil Salad 

Viva La Chickpea

General, , , ,

The words ‘lentil’ and ‘legumes’ used to make me shudder – all I would think was ‘no flavour’.  Boy was I wrong (but dont tell my husband that, I am always right you see…).  So this New Year will be a year of broadened horizons, and I am starting by embracing the chickpea (aka garbanzo bean) – high in protein and full of stuff thats good for you – this dish makes a delicious non-meat meal! 

But dont ask me what came first – the chicken or the chickpea … somet hings are meant to remain a mystery…

Spiced and Roasted Eggplant, Chickpeas and Peppers with Yoghurt Sauce

 closeup of yogurt sauce

Spiced and Roasted Eggplant, Chickpeas and Peppers
Serves 4

  • 4 cups eggplant – chunky bite-size dice
  • 1 large red onion – bite-size wedges
  • 1 large red or yellow pepper – bite-size wedges
  • 1 15oz can of chickpeas – drained, rinsed and patted dry
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons chilli powder
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to season

Preheat your oven to 450F.  Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix to combine – I like to use a bowl with a lid, just add and shake and youre done!  Spread out evenly on baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, turning once.  Increase heat to 500F and cook for a further 10 minutes until roasty-toasty deliciousness!

Yoghurt Sauce

  • 1/2 cup nonfat plain yoghurt – such as strained Greek Yoghurt
  • 2 small tomatoes roughly choped
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

Throw everything in a bowl and mix!

I like to serve this with a mini whole-wheat pita bread – its delicious eaten ‘taco style’.  Hearty and healthy – what can be better!  Even the man liked it – I was shocked, the buns of course ran from the room… little fuss pots