I love you, Landmark Plaza. You do come up with some delightful surprises sometimes, don’t you? The day I returned to Dili after our xmas holidays and perused your many fridges, all the stars aligned. I was meant to have this haloumi. I don’t even care that it cost something like $13. This relationship was meant to be.
So, stuff the healthy crap! Let’s fry up some squeaky, cheesy goodness and get this year started properly!
The accompanying risotto is purely a bed on which to lovingly place the bubbling, yellow, oozing cheese, so you can ad-lib as per your available ingredients. I had eggplant, green beans and spinach and some wholegrain mustard in the fridge. This latter ingredient has made frequent appearances in my risottos ever since my friend and former flatmate, AB, introduced it to me back in our old Juliett Street days. I urge you to try it. It adds some good flavour especially if, like us, you don’t have any vegetarian stock cubes lying about and/or are too lazy to make your own veggie stock, and so can only cook the rice in water.
Fried haloumi atop a mound of eggplant risotto
For the haloumi:
2 x 1cm thick slices squeaky cheese (aka haloumi)
Drizzle olive oil
Lemon wedges, to serve
For the risotto:
1 medium eggplant, sliced about ½ cm thick (I used 3 long skinny ones because that’s all we get here)
½ cup olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 ½ cups uncooked Arborio or carnaroli rice
1 cup dry white wine
4 cups (approx) chicken/vegetable stock OR water (try not to make it water if you can help it)
Zest of half a lemon, finely grated (optional – if you like lemons a lot)
2 tsps wholegrain mustard
10 green beans (or 3 snake beans, etc), chopped
A handful of spinach leaves, roughly chopped
1 cup(-ish) fresh parmesan cheese, finely grated
A handful of chopped, fresh herbs (e.g. parsley, basil or oregano)
Salt and pepper
First, put your stock in a saucepan and bring it to a simmer.
Meanwhile, fry up the eggplant. Make sure the pan is hot before adding about half the olive oil and then the eggplant slices, in batches. Fry until golden, adding more oil if necessary. Set aside.
Heat about 2 tablespoons of the remaining oil and fry the onion and garlic over a medium heat until soft. Turn the heat up to medium-high, add the rice and stir to coat with oil. Let the rice toast for a bit – it might get a bit dry and sticky on the bottom of the pan – this is ok, but keep stirring it so it doesn’t burn.
Add the wine, close your eyes and nod your head in satisfaction at the sizzle and the aroma! Keep stirring!
When most of the wine has been absorbed, add a ladle of the hot stock while continuing to stir the rice. And then once that liquid has been absorbed, add another ladle. Continue this process, stirring all the while until such time as you think the rice is almost cooked – it shouldn’t be too gluggy or soft; it should still have some “bite”, but not crunch. Also, the heat should be adjusted so that it isn’t furiously boiling, but you’ve got some good bubble action happening. Got that? Excellent!
Just before you add the final ladle of stock, add the lemon zest, mustard, beans and spinach. Give it another good stir and add your final ladle. This should finish cooking the rice perfectly. Turn off the heat, stir in the parmesan, herbs and seasoning and then whack on the lid to rest for five minutes, while you bring out the star of the show: The Haloumi.
Heat a small frying pan over medium heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil and the haloumi slices. Cook on both sides until golden and bubbling.
Now, without delay (preferably while the haloumi is still cooking), plate up the risotto to await the piping hot cheese. Squeeze over your lemon and a grinding of pepper and eat immediately.
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