With the bank holiday weekend coming up, I thought I’d share a recipe for Grilled Aubergine and Halloumi Wrap with Minty Yogurt Dip. You can grill the halloumi and the vegetables on the barbecue – if you are lucky to have outdoor space – or you can simply use the grill or a pan. Either way, they are going to taste delicious!
Growing up in Italy, the kind of food I ate was dictated by what was traditional in my country and what was seasonal. We rarely ate exotic foods or spices at home. Now it’s very different and the ingredients I use regularly in my cooking come from all over the world. I love that!
One of the foods I discovered after moving to London is halloumi, a Cypriot semi-hard cheese that’s becoming increasingly popular in UK, especially among vegetarians.
I remember the first time I tasted halloumi: we were going to a barbecue with some friends in Leeds and my husband stopped at the supermarket to buy halloumi to grill. I tried it and I immediately loved the taste of it.
I have been using halloumi ever since that day in the park in Leeds: in burgers, salads or pasta bakes. It seems I am not the only one who loves this cheese: online searches for ‘halloumi’ have gone up 83% in UK in the past 2 years. Halloumi has become a convenient meal choice as well as a BBQ staple for many.
For the grilled aubergine and halloumi wrap I used Waitrose Essential Light halloumi, which provides the same deeply savoury flavours of the original Cypriot cheese, but with reduced fats. In fact, swapping from regular halloumi (from the Waitrose Essential range) to the reduced fat version saves you 2.9g of fat and 26 calories per 30g serving (stat provided by Waitrose nutritionist, Nicola Selwood).
I served the grilled halloumi and aubergines in tortilla wraps, wrapped together with salad and a fresh yoghurt and mint sauce. You can follow the same recipe to make a salad, served with couscous or freekeh grains and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds or roasted pine nuts.
Ingredients
- 3 tortilla wraps
- 1 aubergine, cut into slices about 1cm thick
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 200g Waitrose light halloumi cut into slices
- 50g salad or spinach leaves
For the minty yogurt dip
- 3 sprigs of fresh mint
- 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 clove of garlic, crushed
- 100g natural yoghurt
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Place the aubergine slices on a grill pan, at low-medium heat. Grill for about two minutes, then turn over and grill on the other side. Keep turning over the slices until the aubergines are soft and golden. Transfer onto a plate and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
Put the slices of halloumi cheese on the grill and cook for about 3 minutes on each side, until the cheese is lightly browned on the outside and warm and soft through the middle. Remove from the grill and set aside.
To make the minty yogurt dip, pick and finely chop the mint leaves and add them to a mixing bowl. Add the yoghurt, garlic and the juice of half lemon. Stir everything together and season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
Fill the tortilla wraps with a few slices of aubergines and halloumi, topped with yogurt dip and salad leaves.
No need to season the wrap, as the sauce already has salt and pepper and the halloumi is naturally salty. Serve the halloumi wrap immediately.
Disclaimer: this post was written in collaboration with Waitrose. All opinions are my own.
