Cypriot Halumi cheese
I fell in love with this cheese at the first bite :) It took me a long time to find an authentic recipe, but I finally did and I share it with you :)
Preparation steps
- Put 1l. water with 100g of salt to boil, when it has boiled remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- Put the milk (5 l.) In a suitable skillet to heat to 37 degrees C, you can use an ordinary thermometer .... temperature is very important for the cheese to succeed.
- When the milk has reached the appropriate temperature, add 2 tablespoons of curd (may) diluted in a little water or as it says on the package of curd used in your country. Stir, cover and let stand for at least 1 hour.
- Fill the sink halfway with warm water (40 degrees) and transfer the sieve with curdled milk to it ... cut the curdled milk into cubes with a knife, leave it to stand for 15 minutes, then stir ... leave it to stand again, then stir again ... mix lightly so that the mass does not fall apart ..
- Scatter cotton gauze or plain cotton diaper over a larger plastic bowl or sickle ...
- Pour the cheese from the sieve over the gauze ... tie the ends of the gauze to each other
- and hang to drain the whey from the cheese ... it takes about 1 hour to drain well ...
- Put the drained cheese together with the gauze in a larger plastic strainer and press on top with something .... I put two weights in a plastic container, then put it over the cheese or something that is at hand ... leave it under load for 2 hours
- take the cheese out of the makeshift press and carefully remove the gauze ... cut the cheese into four equal parts ...
- put the whey left over from squeezing the cheese on the stove to boil until foam appears ... it must not be a strong fire ...
- When the foam appears, lower the sliced pieces of cheese into the hot whey
- cook for about 20 minutes or until the cheese comes to the surface, it is a sign that it is ready ...
- remove the cheese from the skillet to drain and cool
- when the cheese has cooled, take the water and salt that we boiled at the beginning and put it together with the cheese in the container in which we will store the cheese ... put it in the fridge and the next day it is ready for use :)
Serving
This cheese belongs to the salty rubber cheeses and is mostly the best when cut into slices and baked in a pan with a little butter or margarine ... it is baked until it turns brown on both sides .... I hope you like it :) Whey what you have left you can save for cooking corbica, making bread ...
