Grilled green skewers with halloumi and chermoula

Chermoula is a fantastic fresh herb dressing/marinade packed with warm, North African spice flavour and lots of garlic – it works on most grilled vegetables and almost any meat/seafood.

Halloumi cheese will keep most of its shape when grilled, but if you do want to make wider strips instead of cubes,  insert two parallel skewers instead of one (especially if you’re grilling on an open grid instead of a hinged grid). For easiest handling, make chunky, cubed skewers and choose fat asparagus, sliced into shorter portions.

Recipe compliments of Leopard’s Leap.

Ingredients

For the chermoula

• 3 cups fresh coriander
• 1 cup fresh parsley
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon chilli flakes (or more, if you prefer)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• ½ teaspoon ground paprika (or smoked paprika)
• Salt & pepper, to taste

For the skewers

• Small punnet baby marrows, sliced into chunks
• Small punnet asparagus, cut into shorter stubs
• Small punnet sugar snap peas
• 200 g halloumi cheese, sliced into chunks
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Method

1. For the chermoula: Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend to a drizzle-able consistency (add more olive oil and/or lemon juice to taste, if necessary). Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed. Transfer to a jar, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve (up to a few hours).
2. For the skewers: Skewer the cut vegetables and halloumi alternatively on sosatie sticks, then grill them briefly over medium-hot coals – you just need some charred colour here and there. Remove from the heat, then immediately brush or drizzle generously with the chermoula. Serve at once.

Enjoy with Leopard’s Leap Pinotage.