Halloumi topped smoky Spanish chickpea stew

A sweet, smoky tomato, red pepper and chickpea stew with golden halloumi slices and flaked almonds.

This is the first recipe from my new series, All Hail Halloumi, and it’s a good’un!

Halloumi makes the best topping for a wholesome, sweet and smoky chickpea stew, made with red peppers, tomato, smoked paprika and more.

This has so much flavour, it’s full of plants (10 in total!), and it’s so comforting.

You can swap the runner beans for green beans, but add them close to adding the halloumi - they don’t withstand long cooking times like runner beans do, and are better with a little bite.

I’m absolutely sure you’ll love this recipe if you try it, please report back! And I’ll be back with the next recipe in this halloumi series very soon.

You’ll need (serves 2):

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 1 red pepper, sliced (seeds and stalk discarded)

• 150g runner beans, sliced into 2cm pieces

• 1 1/2 tbsp smoked paprika

• 1/2 tbsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp bouillon/veggie stock powder

• 1 tin chopped tomatoes

• 1 tin chickpeas, drained

• 1 block halloumi, sliced

• Half a lemon

• Handful parsley

• 2 tbsp flaked almonds

In a large casserole dish, fry the garlic in a little oil for a couple of minutes. Add the sliced pepper, beans, spices, stock powder, chopped tomatoes and chickpeas. Half fill one of the empty tins with water and add that too. Cook over a medium heat for 20-25 minutes, stirring regularly. If it starts to boil dry at any point, add a little more water.

While it cooks, in a frying pan, dry fry the almonds until starting to toast. Remove and set aside. In the same pan, fry the halloumi slices in a little oil until brown on both sides.

After 20-25 minutes, finish the stew by squeezing in the juice of the lemon and season with salt and pepper.

Serve topped with the halloumi, almonds and parsley. Dig in.