Halloumi Cheese

I just ran across a recipe for a warm Lentil, halloumi, roasted cherry tomato salad with arugula and za'atar vinaigrette that sounded tasty. I've never bothered looking for it before, but I don't recall having seen halloumi in my area. Is there anything that would substitute for it, particularly leaning more toward the hispanic persuasion? That tends to me my area's predominant ethnic leaning, I'm thinking I'd have a better shot at finding something in the mercacdos. I'm guessing it's going to be more a textural necessity than flavor, given halloumi's special talent at getting crisp and not molten when heated.

You may have a heckuva time finding a substitute, as halloumi (or with just one "l" if you prefer) is one of the very few cheeses that must be cooked in order to eat it. True halloumi will be made of unpasteurized goat or sheep milk but most of whatyou find in the USA will be pasteurized and have a certain percentage of cow's milk in it as well. Best bet for finding true halloumi is in Lebanese, Cypriot or other Mediterranean-Middle Eastern grocer shops. Good luck.

Best
Rogov

I see it in our local Raley's. More and more, I see recipes calling for it, so it may be available.

I just ran across a recipe for a warm Lentil, halloumi, roasted cherry tomato salad with arugula and za'atar vinaigrette that sounded tasty. I've never bothered looking for it before, but I don't recall having seen halloumi in my area. Is there anything that would substitute for it, particularly leaning more toward the hispanic persuasion? That tends to me my area's predominant ethnic leaning, I'm thinking I'd have a better shot at finding something in the mercacdos. I'm guessing it's going to be more a textural necessity than flavor, given halloumi's special talent at getting crisp and not molten when heated.

Note, that haven't tried this myself, but when the subject came up a while back, my Latino friend told me that "queso freir" or frying cheese is an excellent sub for halloumi and should be easy to find in most latino markets.

Thanks all for the info. I'll try to track down the queso and see what results. Who knows, perhaps an RCP post in my future.