Homemade fried rye flour ravioli from the South Tyrol.
This vegetarian fried rye flour ravioli from the Italian mountains is so easy to make, delicious, nutritious and very moreish. They are traditionally eaten as a snack, street food or antipasto. Great as an appetizer too!
Servings: 6
Calories: 349kcal
Ingredients
Ingredients for filling
- 7 oz cooked spinach (200g) I used 1lb fresh spinach (500g)
- 7 oz fresh ricotta (200g) well drained
- salt to taste
- nutmeg freshly grated
Ingredients for rye flour ravioli
- 7 oz rye flour (200g)
- 7 oz Italian '00' soft wheat flour or all purpose flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil.
- 6-7 floz fresh milk (about 180-200ml) Amount of milk needed may vary
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
Make the ravioli dough
- Sift the two types of flour into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and the olive oil. Mix with a fork.
- Continue mixing while you add the milk a little at a time. Once the mixture resembles a dough use your hands to start bringing it all together into a ball.
- When the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl turn it out onto a floured work surface and knead for 7-10 minutes until it's quite smooth and elastic. Roll the dough into a ball and wrap it in cling film or cover with a damp tea towel. Leave it to rest for 30 minutes.
Make the spinach and ricotta filling.
- If using fresh spinach, wash the leaves and remove any large stems. Place the spinach in a pot with salted water and cook until it has all wilted.
- Drain the spinach well and remove any water by sqeezing it with your hands or in a tea towel. Chop the spinach finely or roughly purée it in a food processor. You can use cooked frozen spinach.
- Drain the ricotta and put it in a bowl with the spinach. Add a little salt and nutmeg. Mix together well.
Make the ravioli.
- Cut off about ⅕ of the dough and re-wrap the rest so it doesn't dry out. Roll the dough piece out into a sheet using just a rolling pin on a floured pastry board or roll it out using a pasta machine. It doesn't need to be very thin.
- With a glass or cookie cutter cut circles out of the dough sheet of about 3.5 in (9cm) diameter. Place 2 teaspoons of filling in the centre of half the circles. Rub around the edges with water and place another circle on top of the ones with filling. Press down around the filling to seal the ravioli.
- Place the ready ravioli on a flour dusted surface and repeat with the rest of the dough and filling.
Fry your rye flour ravioli.
- Heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan. Add some of the ravioli once the oil is hot. Turn to brown on each side. Be careful not to burn the ravioli as they cook quite quickly. Place the ready ravioli on some kitchen paper and cook the rest. You will probably have to cook them in batches of 4 or 6.
- Serve while still hot.
Notes
Any uncooked rye flour ravioli can be frozen and cooked from frozen but be careful when you add them to the hot oil. You can also just boil uncooked ones (fresh or frozen) and serve them with browned butter and parmigiano.
To freeze the ravioli place them in the freezer spread out on a tray or plate. Once frozen they can be transferred to a freezer bag.
Freezing cooked rye flour ravioli isn't recommended.
Nutrition
Calories: 349kcal | Carbohydrates: 55g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 107mg | Potassium: 660mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 7284IU | Vitamin C: 21mg | Calcium: 193mg | Iron: 5mg