Inspired by my Greek Cypriot foodie friend, Mira and my Home Economics colleague, Chrissy and her partner, Paddy (who is a cheesemaker, sourdough bread and venison salami culinary artisan), I was browsing through Tess Mallos’ ‘The Complete Middle Eastern Cookbook’ (Hardie Grant Books (Australia) 2012 when I happened to come across her recipe ‘Haloumi’ on p. 108.
The whole process took about 24 hours from the heating of the two litres of whole milk with the mixing of rennet tablets available from most supermarkets. (As kids, we used to have these made up with milk with flavoured and coloured tablets to make a milk dessert known as ‘junket’), set overnight in the refrigerator. The curds set in a colander lined with a previously sterilised (boiled up) tea towel which allowed the whey to drain below into the saucepan.
The next day, we shaped the ‘cheese’ (soggy curds) in a square cake pan lined with a tea towel. Following the recipe we boiled up the whey and then gently lowered the ‘cakes’ into the boiling whey. And, unlike the recipe, the ‘cakes’ disintegrated and dissolved into the whey. Scooping up the curds we drained into a sieve and were able to retrieve by shaping them back into cakes.
Curds collected into sieve
Jan shaping the cheese
Dried and crushed mint
The finished cheese on a salted board and sprinkled with the dried mint – ready to eat and/or stored in the salted whey for up to six weeks in the refrigerator.