“It speaks to how much I like this recipe that I’d happily choose it over a beef burger. The spicy, charred carrots, sweet honey and crunchy sesame-coated halloumi patties tick all the texture boxes and will excite every part of your tongue.”
Nick
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: Makes 2 burgers
Ingredients – Za’atar Carrots:
4 carrots, peeled and halved
1 tsp cumin, ground
1 tsp coriander, ground
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sumac
Ingredients – Halloumi Burgers:
1 block halloumi
1 tsp sumac
1 tbsp black sesame seed
1 tbsp white sesame seed
75g semolina
1 egg
Ingredients – Filling:
2 brioche buns
4 tbsp hummus
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Honey, to drizzle
Small bunch of flat leaf parsley
Small bunch of coriander
1 Tomato, sliced
Method:
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan.
To make the Za’atar spice mix, put the sumac, salt, chopped fresh thyme, chilli flakes, ground coriander and ground cumin into a bowl and stir together.
Put the carrots in a bowl with the Za’atar spice mix and drizzle with a few tablespoons of rapeseed oil. Toss the carrots until they are completely coated and lay on a sheet of baking paper on an oven tray. Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes, turning over after 15 minutes.
While the carrots are cooking, slice a block of halloumi in half down the middle to make two ‘burgers’. Put sesame seeds, sumac and semolina into a shallow dish and crack an egg into another bowl.
Dip each piece of halloumi into the egg and then roll over in the flour mix until evenly coated. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan over a medium high heat and cook the halloumi burgers on each side for a couple of minutes. The burgers should be golden brown on each side with a nice, crispy crust.
To assemble the burger, toast the brioche buns and mix the lemon juice with the hummus. Spoon 2 tablespoons of hummus onto the base of each bun and lay 4 of the roasted carrot halves on top, top-to-tail. Drizzle the carrots with a couple of teaspoons of honey and rest the halloumi burger on the carrots. Finally, place the parsley and coriander leaves and tomato slice on top and close the bun.
We like to serve these with sweet potato wedges coated with ground cumin and coriander.