Remembering holidays in Crete, I was inspired to make some ‘kalitsounia’. Kalitsounia are small pies, usually fried in extra virgin olive oil, which are a regional specialty of Crete. Commonly, the dough for the pies includes a little raki and the kalitsounia are filled with goat’s cheese and mint, spinach or sometimes just with leafy greens. Using what I had to hand in the garden, I made a vegan friendly filling of a mix of leafy greens, plenty of summer mint and onion.
Kalitsounia
Small pies from Crete
Ingredients
- For the dough:
- 1/2 kg ‘00’ all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup EVOO
- 250 ml warm water
- 3 tbsp tsikoudia/raki/ouzo
- For the filling:
- 1 kg leafy greens
- A little olive oil
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves shredded
- 1 tbsp dried mint
- 1 red onion very finely diced
- Sea salt and black pepper
- To make the kalitsounia:
- Sesame seeds
- EVOO for frying
Instructions
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Mix all ingredients well, knead the dough and let it rise for 1-2 hours.
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Roll out the filo using a thin rolling pin. Rollout a large sheet of filo to less than 1/2cm thick and cut out squares.
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Remove the stalks from the greens, wash well, shred finely and sauté in an empty saucepan for 5 minutes. Squeeze out excess liquid and place greens in a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and season to taste.
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Fill each square with a heaped teaspoon of filling. Brush the filo edges with water and fold in, closing the ends well. Brush a little water on one side and press on sesame seeds. Fry the kalitsounia in EVOO on both sides until golden and the pastry bubbles a little. Good hot or at room temperature.
