Aaaah spicy Halloumi cheese….absolutely delicious …..I just love rice and love it even more when I spice it up.  

Haloumi Spicy Rice by Videhi Sivurusan

Preparation:  15 mins

Cooking time:  30 mins

Serves 4-6

1 ½ cups rice (basmati or rice parboil rice)

Ingredients for Special Sauce 🙂

15ml olive oil

1 medium  onion finely chopped

8-10 dry red chillies

5 cloves garlic roughly chopped

1 cup finely chopped red peppers

1 tsp coriander powder

½ tsp cumin powder

¼ tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp dried oregano

½ tsp freshly ground black peppercorns

1 tsp salt

½ tsp brown sugar

1 ½ cups water

45ml grape vinegar

Vegetable Ingredients

1 tbsp 15ml olive oil

1 small red onion cut into quarters

1 cup carrots sliced

1 cup small brinjal/aubergines sliced in round disks (I used the small thin longish ones)

1 cup courgettes sliced in round disks

1 medium red pepper/capsicum cut into squares

250g halloumi cheese cut into 3x4cm

Salt as required

Handful of fresh coriander finely chopped

Let’s Cook 😁

Cook rice as per instruction on packet.  Cool and keep aside.

Special Sauce

Heat the oil in a sauce pan.

Toss in the onion,  Chillies, garlic, red pepperd coriander powder, cumin powder, fennel, oregano, black pepper and salt. Cook on medium heat until peppers  softens – 5-8 mins.  Add the water and sugar – cook for 8-10mins then remove from the heat. Allow the it to cool down. When significantly cooled use a hand blender or food processor to blend until it forms a nice smooth sauce.

Add the sauce back to the pot – bring it to a boil and cook until mixture reduces to almost half the quantity.  Turn off heat and let it cool down slightly.  (while this is happening prepare veg for cooking)

Heat oil in a saucepan. Add onion, chillies and garlic – cook until onions are soft and slightly golden brown.

In a wok or big pan – heat oil. Toss in onions, carrots, brinjals, courgettes and red pepper – cook for 5 minutes until vegetable is cooked but still has a crunch.

Toss in the halloumi and cook for a minute or two. (alternatively you can fry halloumi cheese separately adding it lastly to the dish)

Pour in sauce. Give it a good stir. Now lower heat – spoon in rice  toss to incorporate sauce and veg evenly or gently mix with a fork.  Salt as required.

Mix in coriander leaves.

Serve immediately with a squeeze of lime and tomato & cucumber sambals….:-)

*Please take note that halloumi is salty so take heed when seasoning the dish with salt.

NOTE: ALTERNATIVELY YOU CAN JUST JUST USE NANDO’S MILD, MEDIUM OR HOT SAUCE INSTEAD OF COOKING THE SPECIAL SAUCE 

YOU CAN ALSO REPLACE THE HALLOUMI WITH TOFU.