A super quick (microwave!) version of Haloumi cheese, flavoured with herbs and chilli and ready to eat in under an hour.
Update: On November 3rd the second photo in this post was chosen as the runner up in the Australian Eat Drink Blog 3 photography competition.
Inspired by my recent adventures with 1 ingredient curd cheese making, I had decided to make haloumi. We love the salty flavour and squeaky texture of the cheese and often find ourselves munching on pan-fried slices of this Cypriot delicacy at snack-time.
My first attempt over the weekend became a slight failure in that I used lemon juice (from 2 lemons) to help create the curd and so my cheese ended up more like a herbed curd cheese than haloumi. It was delicious, but a far cry from the salty, squeaky haloumi we’ve come to love. Not about to give up, I scoured the interwebs for homemade haloumi (aren’t we blessed these days). Buried amongst others, I found this super simple plain haloumi recipe and went on improving it by adding dried herbs and chilli to the mix.
Simple and quick: you can make it in a microwave… (if you don’t have a microwave you can use this longer method). I got really excited because I hardly ever use the microwave for anything else than re-heating tea! And you don’t need any fancy equipment apart from a couple of things you probably already have or can easily find at your local chemist and supermarket: a sheet of gauze dressing and… junket tablets. An electronic human-use thermometer is optional.
Now back to junket tablets – I didn’t even know they existed but apparently they make great cheese! They can generally be found in the most obscure spot of the powdered custard aisle of your supermarket. As mentioned, the thermometer is not entirely necessary because you’ll only be heating the milk to just below body temperature (32°-35°C // 89.5°F – 95°F) and you may just as well use your clean fingers to test the milk’s temp. Oh, and it also turns out that to make haloumi you need unhomogenised milk – the one where the cream sits at the top. Perhaps that’s why my first attempt resulted in curd cheese instead.
Ok so maybe it sounds more complex than I first made you believe… but trust me, it takes less than an hour to make and once you have the gauze, the unhomogenised milk and junket, you are set. And once you pan-fry it, it tastes like nothing else in the world – perfect match for a watermelon salad. For a haloumi recipe using rennet and the slightly longer method, click here.
- 1 litre unhomogenised (organic) cow’s milk
- 1 litre goat’s milk
- 1 junket tablet
- 1 tbsp water
- ½ tbsp dried Italian herbs
- ¼ tbsp chilli flakes, or to taste
- 1 tbsp salt
- ½ cup of the leftover whey
- ½ cup water
- 1 tbsp salt
- Place both milks into a large saucepan. Dissolve junket tablet in 1 tablespoon water.
- Heat milk over slow heat until it reaches 32°-35°C // 89.5°F – 95°F. Remove from heat immediately and add dissolved junket.
- Stir for a few seconds then set aside for 30 minutes in a warm place. The milk should set and become jelly like.
- Once the milk has set, cut it up roughly using a wooden spoon and mix to separate the whey.
- Transfer to a large microwave-safe bowl, add chilli and herbs and allow to stand for another 10 minutes.
- Place the bowl in a microwave and heat on high for 2 minutes. Stir the mixture around and heat on high for another 2 minutes.
- Test the curds with your fingers – they should be elastic and slightly firm. If still very soft, stir and heat on high for 1 more minute.
- Once heated, spread gazue over a large fine sieve set over a large bowl.
- Strain the curds and whey, reserving ½ cup of whey for the brine.
- Sprinkle salt over the curds, mix and start pressing the cheese to remove excess whey.
- Gather the edges of the cheesecloth and squeeze extra whey.
- Combine all brine ingredients and mix well.
- Press haloumi cheese into a rectangular container and place in the fridge to cool (or into the freezer for 15 minutes if you’re more rushed).
- Once cooled, transfer haloumi to a larger container and cover with brine.
- Store in the fridge and consume within a couple of days.
Junket is so good! Great idea.
I still don’t know what it is in Polish, but I recall Mum or Grandma using similar tablets in the kitchen. Might have to ask them… Either way, it works wonders in this recipe.
Just checked. Junket it’s probably podpuszczka. You can read about cheesemaking in Ziolowy Zakatek http://ziolowyzakatek.com.pl/ser-sery/. Klaudyna even recorded a video about rennet in English
Thanks Magda, great link and yes, I spoke to Mum last night and she said that rennet is podpuszczka in Polish.
Well aren’t you the clever one. In my mind I see you in a Donna Hay setting grilling haloumi on your deck while looking out over ocean.
Haha lovely thought, though we are a little off living in a house so close to the water…
Thanks for this. I recently did a cheese making course and though we didn’t cover haloumi that day, the instructor did say it was pretty easy too. It’s so satisfying making cheese isn’t it?
Just a tip for your readers, the Parmalat brand of unhomogenised milk comes in 1L packs at most supermarkets.
Thanks for the tip Kristy – a cheese making class would have been fantastic! By the way… I used Parmalat in my lemon batch then Paul’s organic unhmogenised in this batch. Any full cream unhomogenised cow’s milk would work.
I had never heard of junket tablets before. Your cheese looks oh so rustic and creamy!
Neither had I Sneh, until I started researching why my first batch didn’t work out (haloumi is one of a few cheeses that are made without using acid). And sure enough and as suggested my local big chain supermarket had the tablets. Apparently junket tablets are used to make custards and ice creams too!
1 hour, got to try it out haloumi is expensive here
Yeah, it is here too. Although so is goat’s milk – around $4 a litre that’s why i mixed with cow’s milk.You get a bit more cheese for the same amount of money.
I love Haloumi cheese! This is recipe is wonderful! I just need to find these junket tablets and I’m set. I also love your tip on using whey as brine. When I make ricotta or farmers cheese I use whey for baking bread. But even then I always have too much left over. This is a great way to use whey
. Thank you for sharing!
I’ve read so many haloumi recipes, I’ve got to try making my own. And fried.. oh, my gosh!!
Is it possible to do it in a normal oven? I don’t have a microwave
I would love to try homemade halloumi! Looks so delicious!
Hi Good Mood Food, I have good news for you. You can still make it without a microwave using the conventional stove top method – the recipe is also provided in the “haloumi recipe” link above the second image.
Oh YES YES YES!!!!!
Now this in one thing I’m definitely going to try. So easy! The last time I used junket tablets was way back in school for some home economics task!
Can’t wait to try this
I love you for posting this. Here in France it’s *really* hard to find halloumi. I heard there was “one guy” in a market in a nearby town which sells it but it’s not widely available. I have to wait until my parents visit me from England, or my colleague goes home to Cyprus so I can get some more supplies!
Of course, now I just need to find goats milk, which is another challenge, but I think it will be easier than finding halloumi – thanks so much!
I’m not familiar with “junket” tablets… is that like a rennet tablet? I’ll need to look it up.
Hi Charles, you’re welcome! We are quite blessed here in Australia in terms of our food. You could make it out of straight cow’s milk or sheep milk (although that might be even harder to find). Perhaps some health food shops might stock it?
And yes, jusnket tablets are similar to rennet tablets but they contain other things. Based on my research you could use 2ml pure liquid rennet or an equivalent of that in a rennet tablet. My junket tablets were 0.75g.
This is such an interesting idea, I can’t believe it’s made in the microwave! Looks great!
your photographs just pop out of the pages, gorgeous
Martyna, I still haven’t tasted haloumi (although I keep on seeing it in one of my regular shops..) and already want to make it on my own thanks to your impressive accomplishment! It looks fabulous!
I’ve never tried Haloumi cheese before although I learned about this from several blogs. 1 hour isn’t that bad at all. Pinning to save the recipe!
I love haloumi, but somehow I’m happy that I don’t know what Junket tablets are and I don’t have an easy access to goat milk. Otherwise I would probably end up making it too often
But I will bookmark recipe, just in case when I change my mind 
I had absolutely no idea you could make haloumi at home. I’m so going to try this as I make my own ricotta all the time, which is a breeze too. Thanks for sharing!
By the way, I love the plate you have the cheese on. Gorgeous!
Thanks Jennifer – picked up from Rozelle vintage markets here in Sydney.
Rustic, gorgeous and yum! Thank you for sharing. Love the pictures.
Best,
Sihi
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I would love to make this! Is there something I can sub for the ‘junket’…and I’m not sure where I can buy goats milk?
You will most probably be able to find goat’s milk in most supermarkets or large health food stores. It gives a nice flavour to the cheese. As for junket tablets, I am only aware of them to make the cheese – perhaps contact your local cheesemaker store, or look online. Most Australian supermarkets stock junket – so try your local ones.
Hi,
I’m having a little trouble with this recipe. I’ve heated the milk and put the junket in; waited 30mins and it’s still liquid. It just looks like slightly curdled milk? Not sure what I’ve done wrong. Does the goats milk have to be unhomogenised too?
Thanks!
Hi Heather, that’s what my cheese looked like until I microwaved it and it began to congeal and separate from the whey… the goat’s milk does not need to be unhomogenised. I hope the recipe ended up working for you in the end?
I had the same thing happen to me until I started the microwaving process. Even then, I had to nuke it a whole bunch of times to get some curds (how much is this recipe supposed to yield?). I think the problem lay with the goat’s milk- it was ultra-pasteurized, though the cow’s milk was organic and unhomogenized. It’s cooling in the fridge right now, but seems like it’s going to be very crumbly.
Mine looked a little crumbly too but it set well. I used Paul’s Goat Milk from the refrigerator section not the UHT from the shelves. Let me know how you go. As for the microwave, a lot depends on settings so you might have to microwave the mixture for longer.
I’m going to have to find another source for goat’s milk, because all the grocery store has is the UP. :-/
Check out this cool side-by-side comparison I found:
http://www.cheesemaking.com/ultrapasteurizedmilkforcheese.html
Oh my! Have Junket- will make..
This is fantastic, we have a friend who is vegetarian and has grilled Haloumi when we do a BBQ. I cannot wait to surprise her with this next time she comes round.
Thank you for making it look so simple
OH… MY… WORD! I didn’t know this was possible. Thanks for sharing
The only problem is that UK supermarkets don’t seem to stock junket tablets as far as I can see.
Let me know if you have issues finding it, maybe a cheese making shop would have them? Or try looking online. I can always send you some
Thanks I’ll give you a shout it I can’t find any
Great blog by the way, I can’t remember how I can across it but I’m glad I did.
Thank you! Just let me know
Thanks for the recipe, made some on the weekend – trial with the quick and traditional recipe, split the recipe after I’d made the curds. Cooked it up tonight and it’s excellent. Saves heaps of time. I used liquid vege rennet rather than junket tabs and added dried mint