Guest Blogger Natasha: Spiced Mango Fried Ravioli with Lavender Syrup

While away in Seattle, I asked a few of my favorite bloggers to be my guests and post recipes that include either tomatoes or mangoes or both. This recipe comes from Natasha who writes 5 Star Foodie Culinary Adventures blog. It's always fun to read about her and her family's food adventures.

Natasha is a professional web developer from Northern Virginia, with a passion for fine food. She has always enjoyed the creative process of inventing something new and different in the kitchen. More recently, Natasha has begun an adventure, exploring the cuisine available in some of the best restaurants in the United States and around the world. She shares her restaurant reviews and recipes on her 5 Star Foodie Culinary Adventures blog.

Spiced Mango Fried Ravioli with Lavender Syrup

Mango is a model "superfruit," full of nutritional value and many essential vitamins. It is one of our favorite fruits and we use it regularly in smoothies, fruit salads, and salsas. Today, I created a new and unique recipe featuring this wonderful ingredient. In this preparation, the chunks of ripe mango are scented with cardamom and crystallized ginger, wrapped in a dough, lightly fried, and served with a special lavender syrup. After the initial taste of the delicious crispy dough, bright mango flavors burst forth with a warming aromatic spice of ginger and cardamom, followed by delicate sweet, floral notes from the lavender syrup. It is a true delight.

Ingredients: (12 ravioli or 4 servings)
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons dry lavender
Homemade pasta dough, rolled out very thin and cut out in 12 2-inch squares (or can also use 12 wonton squares)
1 large mango, cut in 1/4-inch chunks
1 tablespoon crystallized ginger
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
Vegetable oil
Blueberries (optional)

Directions:
1) In a small pan, combine water, sugar, honey, and lavender. Bring to boil and cook for a few minutes on medium heat until honey and sugar are dissolved, stirring occasionally.
2) Take of the heat, cover, and let the mixture steep for about 20 minutes. Strain.
3) In a bowl, place mango chunks and sprinkle with crystallized ginger and cardamom. Mix gently. Place 3 or 4 mango chunks (along with a few ginger pieces) onto each dough square.
4) Moisten the edges, fold in half to form a triangle, and pinch the edges together to seal. Reserve any remaining mango chunks.
5) Fry the ravioli in a deep fryer or a regular pot filled with vegetable oil until golden. Divide mango ravioli among plates, and arrange mango chunks and blueberries alongside the ravioli.
6) Pour lavender syrup all over.