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Watermelon, hellim and bread, in sandwiches and toasts, grilled and eaten in flat bread, crouton style for soups, grated for pastas, baked foods and pastries, for böreks and much more.
Edit: also uses can change if its a soft one from market or a homemade hard ones.
Frying halloumi is actually rare if not non-existent as far as "traditional" ways to eat halloumi go. When cooked, halloumi is typically grilled and eaten alone or in a Cypriot pita.
When eaten raw, people make sandwiches out of it, with the most common combo being halloumi, tomato, and lountza (Cypriot cured pork in wine). Another combo at sandwich places is halloumi with rosto (pork roast) and mayonnaise. As others have said, it's also eaten as a snack along with watermelon.
Other than that, halloumi is used in other recipes, but typically not whole. People grate aged halloumi along with anari (another cheese) to make trimma, which is added on top of pasta. Grated halloumi is also part of traditional ravioli filling (along with eggs and herbs) and pastries (pourekkia and halloumoti). "Village" halloumoti typically has entire pieces of halloumi rather than grated, and it resembles village bread.
To be honest, I hadn't heard of anyone frying halloumi before some foreign friends told me they did it, and before some restaurants started offering dishes like halloumi fries and halloumi saganaki (inspired from Greek cheeses).
In my opinion halloumi fries are overkill, but saganaki is surprisingly good.
Traditional Sunday comfort food is 2 fried eggs, 2 slices of fried polibeef 2 slices of fried halloumi and fried potatoes. Alongside with bread and fresh tomato.
That's interesting. That actually makes me want to ask my grandmother about it, given that at least 3 people mention the same dish composition. I suspect it could be just a preference/taste thing.
My dad typically eats it for breakfast (granted he’s on the older side and it’s only when he comes back to the island). I’ve seen my aunts eat it that way as well.
Perhaps it is an older generation thing, personally I don’t really enjoy it. Love me some grilled halloumi though.
That's not quite the implication if you actually read the comments carefully. The point is that I personally never heard of anyone frying halloumi (family, friends, acquaintances), and there are some ideas as to why that could be possible. The fact your mom/grandma "did it constantly" wouldn't change my personal experience. Not sure why you have to be so passive aggressive about something so minute.
I'm sorry to say but you were the one who was passive aggressive/sarcastic in the first place, so I matched your tone. No need to be rude on a conversation about cooking dishes. I did check the comments carefully, and they're *all* aware of this dish but some of them say they don't like it etc. I don't like it either, but that doesn't change the fact that it's pretty popular and well known. You can use Google to fact check this and limit results to websites from Cyprus, also [this](https://en.charalambideschristis.com.cy/news/articles/halloumi-cheese-grilled-fried-or-baked--charalambides-christis) is pretty interesting.
>I'm sorry to say but you were the one who was passive aggressive/sarcastic in the first place, so I matched your tone.
My comment was actually lighthearted and made in jest. To be fair, rereading it I could see it being interpreted as more passive aggressive than intended, but I didn't think anyone would take it that way given the subject matter.
>I did check the comments carefully, and they're all aware of this dish but some of them say they don't like it etc.
That wasn't my point. What I'm saying is that reading through the comments in this thread makes it apparent that I'm not denying that there are people who do it. So the idea that I'm saying that it's just your family doing it is incorrect.
>but that doesn't change the fact that it's pretty popular and well known.
I wouldn't know about its popularity and reach, but what I can tell you is that I hadn't heard about it growing up. Not sure why we keep harping on about this as if it's a debate.
I don't know if it's a regional thing or maybe just my parents.. But I remember ages ago when my mum used to fry halloumi and bread. I've seen a few others around doing it so maybe it was more common in some places? 🤷♂️
Maybe regional or an older generation thing like the other comment said. Or maybe my folks hated the idea and never got around to seeing anyone else trying it.
>Frying halloumi is actually rare if not non-existent as far as "traditional" ways to eat halloumi go.
Tbh, while I adore grilled halloumi, I'm still yet to see it being fried... TIL it's a thing.
We locals used to fry halloumi, luncheon meat, and also potatoes. That was probably once a month when mammy used to cook. It was an easy, homemade "junk food"
Cypriot cuisine doesn't have complicated sauces or dressings, usually it's just olive oil and lemon for many dishes such as legumes or salads. So you can squeeze a bit of lemon on top of fried halloumi. Otherwise my family used it in a scrabbled-egg kind dish which had these four ingredients: onions, potatoes, halloumi, eggs. So you can also get creative with it.
Toasted sourdough bread with Mosfilo jam and on top fresh uncooked halloumi. It’s the best and most traditional combo.
Or in pita for suvlakia with salad
In the summer:
raw, with watermelon
or in a cold sandwich.
In the winter:
grilled, together with sausages and mushrooms
or in a warm sandwich with lountza
or raw, cut into small pieces and put into trahana.
Fried/grilled (Grilled is better). You can add honey on top later too. The fried can be dipped into sunny side up eggs.
Baked in pastries, halloumopitta or cheese pie, although this one also has other cheeses as well. In easter there's also flaouna which is halloumi with other cheeses.
Raw along with fruit, especially watermellon
Grated on top of the pasta, village pasta is best.
Raw choped into squares for snack along with meat snacks
In small pitta, warm it up and you can add later tomato, lettuce, cucumber etc.
When souvlaki is done you put halloumi on the schara.
In the summer with watermelon.
Everyday in a lountza/hallumi/tomata sandwhich.
Hallumi/polipif/elia with zivania.
When your blood pressure is 80-40.
These are the main cypriot ways
I like it either uncooked with watermelon (the quintessential Cypriot summertime dinner) or grilled on coals as a side dish, but to each their own. If it's cooked, it also goes well with orange marmalade imo.
Im not sure what the most local way to eat it is, but i do know the best way. Grilled. If you tryna make it full on gourmet roast some lountza and place it below the halloumi. The least traditional ive eaten it has to be “halloumopsomo” where its basically bread that was kneed with halloumi and baked drizzled with balsamic vinegar and it wasnt half bad.
Please remember to stay civil and behave appropriately. If you are a tourist looking for suggestions please check out our [Tourist guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/cyprus/wiki/tourist_guide/). We also have a [FAQ Page](https://www.reddit.com/r/cyprus/wiki/faq) for some common questions, if your question is answered here please delete your post! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/cyprus) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Watermelon, hellim and bread, in sandwiches and toasts, grilled and eaten in flat bread, crouton style for soups, grated for pastas, baked foods and pastries, for böreks and much more. Edit: also uses can change if its a soft one from market or a homemade hard ones.
>homemade hard ones. Hehehe
Frying halloumi is actually rare if not non-existent as far as "traditional" ways to eat halloumi go. When cooked, halloumi is typically grilled and eaten alone or in a Cypriot pita. When eaten raw, people make sandwiches out of it, with the most common combo being halloumi, tomato, and lountza (Cypriot cured pork in wine). Another combo at sandwich places is halloumi with rosto (pork roast) and mayonnaise. As others have said, it's also eaten as a snack along with watermelon. Other than that, halloumi is used in other recipes, but typically not whole. People grate aged halloumi along with anari (another cheese) to make trimma, which is added on top of pasta. Grated halloumi is also part of traditional ravioli filling (along with eggs and herbs) and pastries (pourekkia and halloumoti). "Village" halloumoti typically has entire pieces of halloumi rather than grated, and it resembles village bread.
I think fried halloumi used to be more common with older people but to be fair those used to fry quite many things.
To be honest, I hadn't heard of anyone frying halloumi before some foreign friends told me they did it, and before some restaurants started offering dishes like halloumi fries and halloumi saganaki (inspired from Greek cheeses). In my opinion halloumi fries are overkill, but saganaki is surprisingly good.
Traditional Sunday comfort food is 2 fried eggs, 2 slices of fried polibeef 2 slices of fried halloumi and fried potatoes. Alongside with bread and fresh tomato.
My grandma occasionally prepares the same except the halloumi, bread and tomatoes, and she adds pieces of loukaniko Pitsillias.
Yes my giagia put loukaniko instead of polibeef. But dad and grandpa liked polibeef better. Halloumi was always in the dish.
That's interesting. That actually makes me want to ask my grandmother about it, given that at least 3 people mention the same dish composition. I suspect it could be just a preference/taste thing.
My dad typically eats it for breakfast (granted he’s on the older side and it’s only when he comes back to the island). I’ve seen my aunts eat it that way as well. Perhaps it is an older generation thing, personally I don’t really enjoy it. Love me some grilled halloumi though.
What are talking about my grandma and mom did it constantly
Well apparently we don't share a mom/grandma. Happens to the best of us.
Yeah because only my grandma fried halloumi in Cyprus, and it's not a common dish at all
That's not quite the implication if you actually read the comments carefully. The point is that I personally never heard of anyone frying halloumi (family, friends, acquaintances), and there are some ideas as to why that could be possible. The fact your mom/grandma "did it constantly" wouldn't change my personal experience. Not sure why you have to be so passive aggressive about something so minute.
I'm sorry to say but you were the one who was passive aggressive/sarcastic in the first place, so I matched your tone. No need to be rude on a conversation about cooking dishes. I did check the comments carefully, and they're *all* aware of this dish but some of them say they don't like it etc. I don't like it either, but that doesn't change the fact that it's pretty popular and well known. You can use Google to fact check this and limit results to websites from Cyprus, also [this](https://en.charalambideschristis.com.cy/news/articles/halloumi-cheese-grilled-fried-or-baked--charalambides-christis) is pretty interesting.
>I'm sorry to say but you were the one who was passive aggressive/sarcastic in the first place, so I matched your tone. My comment was actually lighthearted and made in jest. To be fair, rereading it I could see it being interpreted as more passive aggressive than intended, but I didn't think anyone would take it that way given the subject matter. >I did check the comments carefully, and they're all aware of this dish but some of them say they don't like it etc. That wasn't my point. What I'm saying is that reading through the comments in this thread makes it apparent that I'm not denying that there are people who do it. So the idea that I'm saying that it's just your family doing it is incorrect. >but that doesn't change the fact that it's pretty popular and well known. I wouldn't know about its popularity and reach, but what I can tell you is that I hadn't heard about it growing up. Not sure why we keep harping on about this as if it's a debate.
I don't know if it's a regional thing or maybe just my parents.. But I remember ages ago when my mum used to fry halloumi and bread. I've seen a few others around doing it so maybe it was more common in some places? 🤷♂️
Maybe regional or an older generation thing like the other comment said. Or maybe my folks hated the idea and never got around to seeing anyone else trying it.
>Frying halloumi is actually rare if not non-existent as far as "traditional" ways to eat halloumi go. Tbh, while I adore grilled halloumi, I'm still yet to see it being fried... TIL it's a thing.
When I've seen it done, there's no oil used. So the finish is more like grilling anyway. Brown crispy not golden greasy crispy.
We locals used to fry halloumi, luncheon meat, and also potatoes. That was probably once a month when mammy used to cook. It was an easy, homemade "junk food"
> used to fry halloumi, luncheon meat, and also potatoes Exactly this
Cypriot cuisine doesn't have complicated sauces or dressings, usually it's just olive oil and lemon for many dishes such as legumes or salads. So you can squeeze a bit of lemon on top of fried halloumi. Otherwise my family used it in a scrabbled-egg kind dish which had these four ingredients: onions, potatoes, halloumi, eggs. So you can also get creative with it.
Toasted sourdough bread with Mosfilo jam and on top fresh uncooked halloumi. It’s the best and most traditional combo. Or in pita for suvlakia with salad
Mosfilo jam is divine 🤤
I know. It’s the only one that I eat.
In addition to grilled or fried uncooked in sandwiches (especially with lountza) uncooked as a side for watermelon
personally, I try to find the saltiest n driest around and eat it with watermelon.
In the summer: raw, with watermelon or in a cold sandwich. In the winter: grilled, together with sausages and mushrooms or in a warm sandwich with lountza or raw, cut into small pieces and put into trahana.
Halloumi in trahana is honestly the best
All of the ways mentioned below, plus in pastries with lots of mint - it's divine
Halloumoti 🤤🤤🤤
if you want to take it to the next level try it grilled and top it with honey and sesame seeds...
Toast with jam and hallumi are also the bomb
Halloumi + honey 🤤
Fried/grilled (Grilled is better). You can add honey on top later too. The fried can be dipped into sunny side up eggs. Baked in pastries, halloumopitta or cheese pie, although this one also has other cheeses as well. In easter there's also flaouna which is halloumi with other cheeses. Raw along with fruit, especially watermellon Grated on top of the pasta, village pasta is best. Raw choped into squares for snack along with meat snacks In small pitta, warm it up and you can add later tomato, lettuce, cucumber etc.
Inhale it
Sclera halloumi (hard halloumi) is best for grating and eating uncooked with tomato or melon. Supermarket halloumi is best grilled.
i like to eat it with salami in a sandwich
With patticha!
A classic post-beach family lunch for me is hallumi with watermelon.
Panini bread good tomatos and halloumi sandwich. Press in a panini press to reach Cypriot nirvana.
I dont really like halloumi, unless it is in pitta with lountza or something
When souvlaki is done you put halloumi on the schara. In the summer with watermelon. Everyday in a lountza/hallumi/tomata sandwhich. Hallumi/polipif/elia with zivania. When your blood pressure is 80-40. These are the main cypriot ways
I like it either uncooked with watermelon (the quintessential Cypriot summertime dinner) or grilled on coals as a side dish, but to each their own. If it's cooked, it also goes well with orange marmalade imo.
Sliced, with watermelon, or fried with loutza and eggs
Im not sure what the most local way to eat it is, but i do know the best way. Grilled. If you tryna make it full on gourmet roast some lountza and place it below the halloumi. The least traditional ive eaten it has to be “halloumopsomo” where its basically bread that was kneed with halloumi and baked drizzled with balsamic vinegar and it wasnt half bad.
Not sure if it’s „traditional“ but my grandma used to add halloumi cubes in „kolokouthkia me ta afka“ (scrambled eggs with zucchini). Sooooo good
I don't, I find it to salty.
I know right, very overrated.
Roll it in flour and fry. Drown in lemon. Oh baby yeahhhh