Pougia Karpathou Recipe (Karpathos Hand Pies)

Pougia are Karpathos's own small hand pies, close cousins of the mainland's tiropitakia but with their own particular character: a soft, mild local cheese mixed with a generous amount of fresh mint, folded into a distinctive pouch-like shape rather than the mainland's flag-folded triangle, then fried or baked until golden.

The island's relative isolation within the Dodecanese has let dishes like this develop their own specific identity, and pougia are a good example of how a broadly similar idea, a cheese-filled hand pie, takes on real local character depending on exactly which cheese and herbs a particular island reaches for.

This is genuine hands-on baking, with real time spent folding each small pie, and it rewards being made in a large batch, since they freeze well raw and keep for weeks in the freezer.

Key preparation steps

1. Mix a soft cheese and mint filling.
2. Roll dough into small rounds.
3. Fold into pouches, sealing well.
4. Fry or bake until golden.

The cheese filling

A soft, mild, fresh cheese, similar to a mild mizithra or a mix of ricotta and feta where the genuine Karpathos cheese is not available, mixed with a generous amount of chopped fresh mint, which is the herb that gives pougia their particular character over the dill or parsley used in mainland tiropitakia.

The dough

A simple, slightly enriched dough of flour, oil, a splash of wine or water, rolled into small rounds rather than the long strips used for flag-folded triangles. This gives the traditional pouch shape rather than the mainland's neat flag fold.

Folding and cooking

Place a spoonful of filling in the centre of each round, then gather the edges up and pinch them together at the top, forming a small, closed pouch, sealing firmly so the filling cannot escape during cooking. Fry in hot oil until deeply golden, or bake in a hot oven for a lighter result, brushed with a little egg wash first.

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