Halloumi Shawarma + Pea & Mint Smash

First, make the pea smash; fill and boil your kettle, and put the peas in a large saucepan or heatproof bowl. Cover them with boiling water and leave for three minutes, then drain carefully. Put the drained peas into the bowl of a food processor, then chop the mint leaves and add them as well, together with the lemon juice. Blitz until you have a smooth-ish puree, then – with the motor running – slowly trickle in the olive oil until the pea mixture is of a houmous-like consistency. Season with plenty of salt and pepper, then blend again, adding more oil or lemon juice if wished. Tip the pea smash into a serving bowl, then cover and refrigerate until needed. Light your charcoal, if barbecuing, to give it time to come to cooking temperature.

Next, look closely at your two blocks of halloumi cheese and you’ll see that they each have a fold (the folding occurs during the production process); gently pull each block in half along its fold, then cut carefully down through each half, to give a total of eight large pieces - they will probably be a bit uneven, but that’s fine. Lay the cheese out flat in a large shallow dish or tray. Put the shawarma paste and one tbsp olive oil into a small bowl or jug and whisk together, then pour it all over the halloumi, gently turning the cheese until well coated. Cover the dish and place in the fridge to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

While this happens, make the flatbreads; sieve the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl, then put the yoghurt into a measuring jug and top up to the 125ml mark with warm water. Mix, add the 2 tbsp oil, then slowly pour the liquid into the flour bowl, using clean fingers to mix it in until you have a soft but not sticky dough - don’t add all the liquid at once, because you may not need all of it (though if you are using wholemeal flour, you may need to use a little extra water). Turn the dough on to a floured work surface and knead for a couple of minutes, then divide it into four roughly equal balls and use a flour-dusted rolling pin to roll them out one at a time to about half a centimetre thick. Set a frying pan over a medium-high heat and drizzle in about half a teaspoon of oil. When the oil is hot, lift a flatbread into the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until starting to puff up, with small spots of brown on the underside. (You can also cook the flatbreads directly on the barbecue, if using.) Flip the bread over and cook for another couple of minutes, until lightly golden and brown-spotted all over, then remove it from the pan or grill and wrap in foil or a clean cloth to keep warm while you cook the remaining flatbreads. Keep the breads wrapped and set aside until needed.

When the halloumi has had its time, put the remaining tbsp of olive oil into a clean frying pan and place over a medium heat. When the oil is hot, lift the cheese out of the marinade, tapping off any excess, and put a couple of pieces at a time into the hot pan, cooking for 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown all over. (To barbecue, brush each piece of halloumi lightly with oil, then place on the grill and cook as above). Lift the cooked halloumi pieces on to a kitchen-paper lined plate and repeat until all the cheese is cooked.

To serve, take the warm flatbreads, plate of halloumi and bowl of pea & mint smash to the table, together with plenty of salad leaves. You can fill and fold your flatbread any way you like, though we suggest spreading the bread with the peas, then adding a layer of salad leaves and a couple of slices of the halloumi, before folding in either side of the bread and gently rolling it up to eat.