Halloumi and Chickpea Salad with Warm Spices

• 1small red onion, very thinly sliced
• 30 mllemon juice
• 2 x 400gtins chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 3 tbspolive oil
• 2garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tspground cumin
• 1 tspground coriander
• 1 tspdried oregano
• 1/2 tspchilli flakes
• 400gripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1cucumber, halved lengthways, seeds scraped out, sliced
• 25gflat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 15gmint, leaves torn
• fine salt
• black pepper
• 1 x 225gblock halloumi, cut into 8 slices
• 4pitta breads, about 60 g each
• 150gGreek yoghurt (optional)
• 1lemon, cut into wedges

Method

1. 1Put the red onion in a large bowl with half the lemon juice and a pinch of salt and leave it while you cook; the acid softens it and takes the raw edge off.
2. 2Pat the chickpeas dry on a tea towel. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in your largest frying pan over a medium-high heat, add the chickpeas and fry for 4 minutes, shaking the pan now and then, until they blister and start to pop.
3. 3Add the garlic, cumin, ground coriander, oregano and chilli flakes and cook for 1 minute until the spices smell toasty and cling to the chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper and tip into the bowl with the onion.
4. 4Add the tomatoes, cucumber, most of the parsley and mint, the rest of the lemon juice and the last tablespoon of oil. Toss and taste; it should taste fresh and sharp. Add salt cautiously because the halloumi brings its own.
5. 5Wipe the pan, put it back over a medium-high heat and lay in the halloumi slices. Fry for 2 minutes each side until deep golden with a crust; it needs no extra oil. Warm the pittas in the toaster while it cooks.
6. 6Pile the salad onto plates, sit the halloumi on top and scatter with the remaining herbs. Serve at once with the lemon wedges, the warm pittas and a spoon of yoghurt if you like; halloumi turns rubbery as it cools.

Per serving

kcal

636

protein

28.5g

fibre

13.2g

carbs

68.5g

fat

27.6g