A Traditional Cypriot dish that is believed to date back to Venetian times of the island. It takes time to make them but they are totally worth it! Moreover, you can make a big batch and freeze some for later.

Ingredients:

Dough

• 4 cups flour
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cup warm water (approx.)
• 1/3 cup Colive Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Filling

• 2/3 halloumi cheese
• 1 tbsp mint
• 1 small egg

Sauce

• 2 tbsp warm Colive oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3/4 tsp honey

Method:

1. Mix flour, warm water, olive oil, and 1 egg together until you have a smooth and elastic paste. It shouldn’t be sticky so add in water gradually. Once it is ready, cover the dough and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.
2. Grate 2/3 halloumi cheese. Mix with 1 tbsp dried mint and small egg.
3. Sprinkle a flat surface with a tiny bit of flour. Take a medium ball from your dough and roll it thin using a rolling pin. The shape doesn’t matter that much.
4. Use a cup to cut the dough into medium circles.
5. Place 1 tsp of halloumi mix in the middle of each circle.
6. Brush the edges with some water and close the medium circles into semi-circles.
7. Repeat the process until you use all the dough.
8. Bring up some water (you can use chicken broth or vegetable broth if you have some as it will add more flavor) to boil to cook the portions of ravioli. They will take around 5 minutes to cook. Once they are ready they will expand, slightly change color and raise to the surface.
9. We experimented a bit and decided to bake some to see what happens. We brushed them with some olive oil and bake them for 10 minutes at 180c in the oven. We flipped them over halfway. These ones turned up more like crunchy pastry parcels but they were equally delicious with the sauce.
10. You can serve them by just sprinkling them with some halloumi but we wanted to make a little sauce to jazz it up. We warmed 2 tbsp Colive oil over medium heat and mixed it with 2 tbsp lemon juice and 3/4 tsp honey. This sauce worked really well with both versions.

Ultimate tip: you should roll the dough thin and when closing the circular parcels you should keep the sides as narrow as possible so they taste full of the filing and not too doughy (ours ended up with thicker sides than we would have liked)

* They are traditionally filled with anari cheese / nor which is hard to find outside of Cyprus.