Crispy Halloumi Fries with Honey and Chilli

Ingredients

• 500 g halloumi, cut into 1cm-thick batons
• 60 g plain flour
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 100 g panko breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp garlic granules
• 500 ml vegetable oil, for shallow frying
• 3 tbsp runny honey
• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 300 g cherry tomatoes, on the vine
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• 400 g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• ½ cucumber, finely diced
• ½ red onion, finely diced
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lime, juiced
• Fine salt and black pepper
• 15 g coriander leaves
• 1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced into rings
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 200 g Greek yoghurt

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C fan. Toss the cherry tomatoes with the olive oil and dried oregano on a small baking tray, season generously with salt and pepper, and roast for 20 minutes until the skins are blistered, slumping, and starting to burst from the vine.
2. While the tomatoes roast, tip the chickpeas, cucumber and red onion into a bowl. Dress with the extra virgin olive oil and a good squeeze of lime juice, season well, and set aside so the raw onion softens and mellows into the dressing.
3. Pat the halloumi batons dry on kitchen paper; water on the surface means a soggy crust, and a soggy crust will slide off in the pan. Set up a crumbing station in three shallow bowls: well-seasoned flour in the first, beaten egg in the second, and panko mixed with the smoked paprika and garlic granules in the third. The smoked paprika needs to toast in the hot oil during frying.
4. Coat each baton in flour and shake off the excess, dip through the egg letting the surplus drip back, then press firmly into the seasoned panko, turning and pressing again to lock a thick, even crust onto every side.
5. Pour vegetable oil into a large frying pan to a depth of 1cm and set over a medium-high heat. It's ready when a pinch of panko dropped in sizzles on contact and turns golden in 15 seconds; too cool and the crust drinks oil, too hot and it scorches before the cheese inside softens.
6. Fry the halloumi in two batches, 2–3 minutes per side, turning once, until deeply golden and crackling-crisp. Don't crowd the pan; squeeze them in and the oil temperature crashes, the crust steams instead of crisps, and you get pale greasy fries. Lift onto kitchen paper and hit with a pinch of salt straight out of the oil while the surface is still glossy.
7. As the second batch fries, warm the honey in a small saucepan over the lowest heat for about a minute until loose and pourable. Stir in the chilli flakes, lime zest and the lime juice, then pull off the heat.
8. The chickpeas in particular drink up seasoning.
9. Pile the halloumi fries onto a large serving board with the blistered tomatoes still on the vine and the chickpea salad alongside. Tip the Greek yoghurt into a bowl for dipping. Spoon the warm honey-chilli-lime drizzle generously over the fries, scatter the picked coriander leaves and red chilli rings across the top, and tuck the lime wedges around the edges for squeezing at the table.