Grilled Halloumi on a Bed of "Risotto-like" Goodness

Two weeks ago, we bought an eggplant. It was on special and I though: why not make a moussaka. André wasn't excited about this prospect and it just so happened one of our YouTube channel was showing a recipe that looked just amazing using an eggplant (see here) and grilled halloumi. We decided to try it and did not regret it (I mean, look at how good it looks!!).

Serves 4.

Peel and thinly slice 2 red onions. Heat a medium-big saucepan over medium-high heat and add a tablespoon of oil before adding the onions. Fry roughly 10 minutes, until the onion is tender. Add one tablespoon of tomato puree and one tablespoon of harissa paste (to adjust depending on your taste for spicy food, could be good with a bit less too). Mix and fry for a minute or so. Add 4 portions*** of wheat, bulgur, oat, rice or couscous and fry a couple of minutes, until fragrant. On the channel, they are using "freekeh", which we successfully replaced by "matvete" (wheat berry), but I am confident it could be replaced by other things. Just follow the instructions on the package of whatever you are using for the quantity*. Add vegetable stock (again, follow the instructions on the package). Simmer until the liquid is absorbed (see instructions). Add 150g of fresh spinach, mix and cover so the residual heat softens it.

Cut a small eggplant and a 200g block of halloumi (in the show they use only 100g, but COME ON!) in 5mm thick slices. Mix a teaspoon of harissa paste with 2 tablespoons of honey and brush it on both side of both eggplant and halloumi slices before frying them in a pan on high heat. You can heat the honey mixture to make it easier to brush it. You want to have caramelized surface so go high!

Serve the "risotto", topped with intercalated slices of eggplants and halloumi and a .

Note: It dawned on us afterwards that the star of the show is clearly not the eggplant and this recipe could also be prepared replacing it with zucchini.

*** You might want to make a bit more (something like 6 portions), as these portions are normally calculated assuming it will be a side dish.