Halloumi cheese & tahini?

madbev90210

Where can I buy these ingredients? Cant find them in supermarkets or health shops.. Is there a secret shop somewhere?!
I want to make my own hummus hence the need for tahini (I dont even know what it is or looks like!) and just loved halloumi when I had it in a restaurant recently.. Any help greatly appreciated!

Slaphead07

madbev90210 wrote: »

Where can I buy these ingredients? Cant find them in supermarkets or health shops.. Is there a secret shop somewhere?!
I want to make my own hummus hence the need for tahini (I dont even know what it is or looks like!) and just loved halloumi when I had it in a restaurant recently.. Any help greatly appreciated!

Proper health food shops will have them. I know The Hopsack in The Swan Centre does.

Lollymcd

You can get halloumi in loads of places, my local Mace has it, I've seen it in M&S and Tesco. Fallon and Byrne also stock it.

Tahini is a paste, comes in a jar. I've seen it in Tesco in Jervis, they have their own brand. As the previous poster said, most good health shops will stock it.

flikflak

I get my tahini in the Asian store just up from the Church pub. It seems to be the cheapest I can find and is in a plastic tub. Dont eat cheese so cant help you with that!

cosmic

Tahini is quite fattening so as a lower fat version I just use sesame oil in my hummous. Much easier to find and a lot cheaper!

Slaphead07

Lollymcd wrote: »

You can get halloumi in loads of places... I've seen it in Tesco in Jervis, they have their own brand.

the Tesco halloumi is vile. M&S stuff isn't great either.

Absurdum

my local Asian/ethnic stores have authentic-looking halloumi

Lollymcd

Slaphead07 wrote: »

the Tesco halloumi is vile. M&S stuff isn't great either.

If you read my post again you may see that the Tesco own brand product I was referring to was their tahini paste!

Cheers for the heads up on the Tesco halloumi, I will avoid it!

henryporter

Hard to find good haloumi, particularly the stuff they sell in supermarket chains. Tahini is easy enough to get in Health Shops. Apparently theres a gig difference in quality there too but seeing as the only variety available is the Sunita stuff there isn't much choice (Sunita Tahini is Greek, whereas the proper stuff comes from the Middle East). Another thing to consider when buying Tahini is light and dark varieties - the dark being extremely strong tasting - not for the faint hearted but very tasty. Another thing you can make with tahini is a lemon tahini dressing for felafel - I'll post the recipe if anyone wants it

madbev90210

Thats great everyone! Have a few places to look now and know what Im looking for which helps a lot! For some reason, the more I couldnt find these the more I wanted them! the halloumi dish I tried was in Joels restaurant so might ask them to order me some in (only messing) Also didnt know you could use sesame oil instead of tahini in hummus so might try that too. Thanks again everyone!

Jumpy

Superquinn has both.

madbev90210

Jumpy wrote: »

Superquinn has both.

Hmm, I tried superquinn, dunnes and tesco.. Obviously I have eyesight problems! Will look again!

Jumpy

Well the Limerick one does. It has Halloumi in the special cheese section and Tahini in a jar like peanut butter.

kingredness

The Fresh Market in Marino and Marys Abbey has tahini. Not sure about the haloumi tho.

Jumpy

I have an addiction to Halloumi.

Who knew that salty cheese would taste so good.

Tahini is the blech of all blechs. Yuck.

Slaphead07

Jumpy wrote: »

I have an addiction to Halloumi.

Who knew that salty cheese would taste so good.

With a wallop of good chili dipping sauce. Heaven.

henryporter

Jumpy wrote: »

I have an addiction to Halloumi.

Who knew that salty cheese would taste so good.

Tahini is the blech of all blechs. Yuck.

I think the blech honour has to go to Marmite :eek:

Slaphead07

Slaphead07 wrote: »

the Tesco halloumi is vile. M&S stuff isn't great either.

Tesco Halloumi is grand. :? No quality difference between that and the much more expensive stuff you'll find in the healthfood stores.

Did you try eat raw or something?

Ms. Koi

Only place I ever bought it was my local health food store!

Slaphead07

Moonbaby wrote: »

Tesco Halloumi is grand. :? .....Did you try eat raw or something?

No. Tried it grilled and fried. It was mush (and it should be squeaky rubber!) and tasteless. If I remember correctly it's not much cheaper than other stuff either.

Slaphead07

Slaphead07 wrote: »

No. Tried it grilled and fried. It was mush (and it should be squeaky rubber!) and tasteless. If I remember correctly it's not much cheaper than other stuff either.

You must have got a dodgey batch. Never found it to be mushy or bland.
They are actually stocking 3 flavours at the minute, plain, cracked black pepper and Chili.
It is 3 euro versus almost 5 in my local healthfood store.


What brand do you prefer? Till I give a go and compare.

Slaphead07

Moonbaby wrote: »

What brand do you prefer? Till I give a go and compare.

Well any of the others really.
I just checked the fridge and the current tenant is "Cypressa" with a 'hint of mint'. I seem to remember the Tecso halloumi being very salty too. Price isn't a huge factor for me, I won't eat/enjoy something I don't like for the sake of €2 although I'm pretty sure I usually pay about €4, which is an ok difference anyway.

--LOS--

Tahini is definitely available in any asian supermarket but I think it may be called something different so you might have to ask someone in there and describe what it is, a sesame seed paste.