Crispy Shredded Halloumi Salad (with kale)
Recipe video above. This salad is all about the crispy halloumi crumble! Just shred halloumi with a box grater and pan fry until golden - it's like pangrattato, but better because it's cheese. 🙂I use it to shower a salad made with rice, finely chopped kale, pine nuts and red onion in a garlic vinaigrette for a salad designed to be eaten with a spoon, so you get a bit of everything in every mouthful.Great warm or at room temperature. Serves 4 as a light meal (top with a soft boiled egg!), or 5 to 6 as a side. Try it with Honey Garlic Chicken Breast, crispy Pan Seared Fish, or Country Pork Chops. See notes for meal prepping, the halloumi stays crispy for days!
Servings: 4
Calories: 606cal
Ingredients
- 225g/ 7.9oz halloumi , shredded using a box grater (Note 1)
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup pine nuts (or slivered almonds)
- 5 tightly packed cups kale leaves , chopped into ~1 - 1.5cm/ 0.4 - 0.6" pieces (Note 2)
- 1/4 red onion , very finely sliced then roughly chopped (~1/4 cup), or green onion finely sliced
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped dill (or parsley)
- 3 cups cooked white rice (1 cup uncooked rice grains), or brown rice or quinoa, warm or cooled
Dressing:
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup extra virgin oil olive oil
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove , finely grated or crushed using garlic crusher
- 1/4 tsp heaped cooking salt / kosher salt (halve for table salt, +50% for flakes)
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
Optional protein addition
- Soft boiled egg , halved (Note 3)
Instructions
- Dressing - Put the ingredients in a jar and shake well until combined. Set aside to let the garlic flavour meld.
- Toast pine nuts - Heat a large-non stick fry pan over medium heat, no oil. Add the pine nuts and stir regularly for 3 minutes or until they have light brown spots. Remove into a bowl. (Note 4 for oven method)
- Crispy shredded halloumi - Return the pan to the stove and heat the olive oil on high. Cook the shredded halloumi for 5 minutes until most of is golden or deep golden, not brown, lowering the heat to medium high if patches brown too quickly. Transfer into a bowl while you dress the kale. They will crisp up even more as they cool.
Assemble salad:
- Scrunch and dress kale - Place the kale and red onion in a bowl. Pour over about 2 tablespoons of the Dressing then use your hands to massage it into the kale leaves. Scrunch boldy - kale can take it!
- Toss - Add the rice, dill, most of the pine nuts and remaining Dressing. Toss well.
- Plate up - Spread the salad in a wide shallow serving bowl (for maximum sprinkling surface area!). Cover the surface wtih the crispy halloumi and remaining pine nuts. You could also do this in individual bowls. Serve!
Notes
1. Halloumi - Some brands crumble a little more than others which is no problem, they will still fry up into crispy little golden nuggets. Crumble the larger pieces by hand into smaller bits, or gather and grate.
2. Kale leaves - Hold the base of the stem with one hand, then wrap your other hand around the stem and firmly slide it upwards to strip off the leafy part. Discard the tough stem. To chop the leaves into small, spoonable pieces, treat them like a giant pile of herbs - gather them up tightly, slice in one direction, then turn and cut crosswise.
I use curly kale here but tuscan kale (cavolo nero/ lacinato kale) will also work great. Baby spinach will also work (but toss in dressing, don't hand scrunch).
3. Soft boiled eggs - bring water to a boil first, gently lower in fridge cold eggs, lower heat slightly so eggs aren't getting bashed around but water still bubbling. 8 minutes, plunge in cold water.
4. To toast the pine nuts in the oven, bake for 5 to 7 minutes at 180C/350F (160C fan-forced), stirring halfway, until there are light golden spots.
Meal prep - The halloumi crumbs stay crispy for days! So this is a great one for meal prepping. Think, work lunch! Massage kale with dressing, add everything else and mix but do not dress. Take dressing and halloumi in separate containers. Bring salad to room temp (fridge cold rice is hard and not nice), or microwave briefly to warm (I liked this). Dress, top with halloumi, enjoy!
Nutrition per serving assuming 4 servings (light meal-size).
Nutrition
Calories: 606cal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 43g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 22g | Sodium: 805mg | Potassium: 120mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 128IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 584mg | Iron: 1mg