My cheese consumption has gone down massively recently but when The Meat Eater said he was going back to the old chippy for our usual Friday night chippy chips, I thought I’d give their battered halloumi another go. This was the second time I’d tried battered halloumi from the chippy and the first time, I wasn’t keen, despite me usually loving halloumi. I don’t know whether it just seemed a bit odd getting it from the chippy, along with chips that’d been chucked in a huge vat of oil, or maybe I thought it was trying to fool me into thinking it was fish but, whatever it was, the first time just didn’t do it for me.
This time, however, I loved it and remembered how much I love halloumi (to be honest, I hadn’t forgotten. How could anyone forget how delicious it is?) and so when I saw a link to this recipe for vegan tofu halloumi on the Little Vegan Kitchen Facebook group, I knew I had to give it a go, slightly adapting the recipe to my own taste and preference.
I wasn’t expecting it to be much of a convincing replica for halloumi but, I’ve got to say, although it doesn’t have the ‘squeak’ of dairy halloumi, it’s a salty and tangy, perfectly acceptable alternative. I’ve enjoyed it so much, I’ve been having it for lunch stuffed in pitta bread with hummus and salad for the last three days.
I used my George Foreman to get it crispy but I would imagine it’d also be great fried in a little olive oil.
Don’t forget to press your tofu first – either by using the ‘pile a load of heavy stuff on top of it’ method or with a tofu press, such as this one from TofuBud.
- ¼ block tofu, pressed and sliced lengthways into two
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Mix the olive oil, nutritional yeast, salt and lemon juice in a bowl
- Rub the tofu with the olive oil mixture and leave to soak in for about 15 minutes
- Grill in a George Foreman grill for about 5-10 minutes until crispy on the outside
8 comments
Can you fry it in a pan? I don’t have that grill thing
Yes, it can definitely be fried. I just use my George Foreman to save using a frying pan!
This is great. I play around with the marinade a bit, and I’ve added mint to it – but I still haven’t got my ideal marinade. The main thing though is to squeeze and squeeze that tofu till it squeaks!
I’m glad you like it – and yes, tofu definitely needs squeezing until it squeaks!
Just made it in a spongebob toasted sandwich maker and it tasted awesome! Definitely good to give it an extra press with a spatula while it is cooking!
I’m glad you like it! You do now realise I need a Spongebob toasted sandwich maker? 🙂
hiya, would any yeast be okay to use or does it Have to be the nutritional yeast?
Hi Angelina, it has to be nutritional yeast. It’s not the same kind of yeast you use for baking, etc. Nutritional yeast is what gives it a ‘cheesy’ flavour but you can just leave it out if you can’t find any.