Vegetarian mains
Halloumi and vegetable kebabs with herby maftoul and tzatziki
Our maftoul is a hand-rolled giant couscous style grain. It's got a slightly different texture to normal couscous or bulghur wheat, and makes a great addition to a salad.
Cook's notes
We've included some garlic as it's traditional in tzatziki, a Greek-style yoghurt and mint sauce. If you're not a fan of raw garlic, leave it out.
Ingredients
- 4 kebab skewers
- 100g maftoul
- olive oil
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 50g salad leaves
- 1 cucumber
- 2 courgettes
- 8 large or more smaller cherry tomatoes
- 30g parsley
- 30g dill
- 15g mint
- 1 lemon
- 100ml yoghurt
- 1 garlic clove – optional
- 8 chunky cubes halloumi
- oil for grilling e.g. sunflower or light olive
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Put the skewers in a shallow bowl. Cover them with cold water. Leave to soak until needed (this prevents them from burning when you come to grill them). Put the maftoul in a pan. Add the stock cube and 500ml water.
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Step 2
Bring up to a simmering low boil. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until the maftoul is softened, but still retains a bite. Keep an eye on the liquid, add a splash more water if needed. By the end of cooking, you want all the liquid to be absorbed.
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Step 3
Stir in a glug of olive oil at the end to stop the maftoul sticking together. While the maftoul cooks, wash the salad leaves and leave to drain (or use a salad spinner if you have one). Wash the cucumber, courgettes and about 8 large or a few more smaller cherry tomatoes.
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Step 4
Chop the courgettes into bite-sized chunks, not too large, so they cook in time. Wash the parsley and dill. Shake dry or pat with kitchen paper. Chop the leaves. Wash the mint and then finely shred the leaves. The easiest way to do this is to lay them on top of each other, roll them up then finely shred.
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Step 5
Next, make the tzatziki. Chop the cucumber in half lengthways. Trim the ends off. Use a teaspoon to scrape out and discard the seeds. Coarsely grate the rest into a large bowl. Add the juice of half the lemon, a good couple of pinches of salt, the pot of yoghurt and the mint.
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Step 6
If you like, peel and finely chop, grate or crush 1 small garlic clove and add that too (optional). Gently stir to combine all the ingredients. Taste and add more lemon juice or salt.
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Step 7
Thread the courgettes, halloumi and cherry tomatoes onto the skewers. Brush or use your fingers to rub them with a little oil. Lay a piece of foil on your grill tray (this helps catch any juices and saves on washing up). Heat your grill to a medium-high heat. Grill the kebabs for 4-5 minutes each side, just until the halloumi is starting to colour but before it melts.
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Step 8
Remove the kebabs from the grill. Stir the chopped parsley and dill into the maftoul, adding more olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Serve the maftoul with the kebabs, tzatziki and salad leaves.