Sunday, April 26, 2020

Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta -- made by Big Sis

Homemade whole wheat pasta

Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta

This was the 16 year old's first attempt at making homemade pasta from a recipe following allrecipes. It turned out to be delicious and if we had time, we would not go back to buying boxes of pasta again


Yesterday, someone in my neighborhood came back home, recovered from Covid-19. I didn't know him and so was even unaware that he was in the hospital. We only came to know when yesterday we saw there were balloons in his lawn and signs with "Welcome Home". There were car parades and honking, probably from his friends and colleagues.

Today as a neighborhood community, we all went in our cars with "Welcome Home" signs and drove in front of his house, honking and welcoming him back home.I don't know them but it felt very nice to be part of it. However it was scary too hear his wife's first-hand account of her husband's illness. And here he was a very fit person in his 40s, who had to fight for 3-weeks in the hospital and has to still use a walker when we waved to him today. I cannot imagine what it must be doing to at-risk individuals.
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Sometimes I feel guilty sharing food and what we are cooking at home while a pandemic rages through our state, taking lives, making thousands of people sick.
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Here is the thing, there are 2-sides to this story.
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On one side there are the heroic frontline workers facing the pandemic, their families, the patients and their families.
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On the other side, there are people depressed staying home, some not understanding the importance of social distancing, some not happy with online school, some in fear of losing income, some unable to travel to their loved one, some just wanting to get out and go shopping.


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When I share stories from my kitchen, I hope someone in the second category will read and find some joy in staying home today. Maybe they will find a reason to get up and make a meal for themselves. Someone will see that the schools are doing a lot, that's enough education and it's good that kids have little more time on hand now.
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Ours is not a story about great master-chef style cooking. It's more of finding joy in staying at home and cooking a meal for family. It does not have to be perfect to be delicious.
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Today BigSis made pasta from scratch. She has been wanting to do this for a long time. Homemade Pasta just like the one we had in Tuscany. However her school workload leaves no time for such stuff usually. As a fallout of the pandemic the kids did get a little break and today she could spend cooking one of the things she loves.
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Our first issue was we did not have enough AP Flour or Maida. So she had to look for a whole wheat Pasta recipes and she found one in AllRecipes which she followed.

She made the dough. We don't have a pasta making machine, so she rolled the dough by hand and cut her shapes. It was truly delicious 😋😋 .

She then used some of the dough to make ravioli. It was very impromptu ravioli with cheese+pesto filling. I loved the ravioli a lot. The kids thought the pasta was better than the ravioli.

I am sharing the pasta recipe that we did at home as well as videos. Hope this will help you make your own pasta at home






Original recipe followed

Ingredients for Pasta

This is for 5 servings

To make Dough

Whole Wheat Flour -- 1.5 Cups
AP Flour -- 1.5 Cups

Eggs - 4

Olive Oil -  1 Tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Water - 1/4th Cup added gradually to make the dough


Check video to beter understand the process

Making the Dough

Stir together the Whole Wheat Flour, AP Flour and salt in a wide mouthed bowl. Make some hole like space in the center and pour the Olive oil. Follow by cracking the eggs in the hole. Now mix together with a fork to make a wet dough. BigSis used the stand mixer to do this step.

Now gradually add water as needed and bring together everything. The water is not mentioned in the original recipe but BS needed it to bring the flour together, else she says it was a crumbly dough.

Knead the dough on a floured surface for 20-25 minutes. The dough has to be stiff and elastic.

Cover with cling wrap and rest the dough for 30 minutes. BigSis put it in the refrigerator at this point.






She divided the kneaded dough into 4 parts.

Roll dough and shape Pasta

Now if you don't have a pasta machine like us, roll out the dough thin on a floured surface. Use a rolling pin. We used our Roti Belan.

Try to roll it out as thin as possible without tearing it apart.

Now cut out shapes as desired. For beginners, she just cut long thicker strips like Fettuccine.

Leave it to air dry for 10 minutes

Cook Pasta

Bring a big pot of water to boil. Salt the water.

When water comes to a roling boil, add the pasta. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Fresh Pasta will cook quickly and float when cooked.

Toss Pasta

You can toss the pasta only in olive and garlic along with some Parmiggiano.

You can make a pasta sauce like this and toss it in the sauce too

To make ravioli with the rolled out dough, check this video



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3 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing your joys and sorrows, and what is happening in your neighborhood, and your reflections. It is very life-affirming to hear of others trying their best to live and support each other.

    Congratulations on the successful pasta, and hope the next recipe is as delicious.

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  2. a lovely post and info you shared touched my heart..yes i too feel like what you said..but its very heartening to hear how we can in our own little way support, encourage and inspire. Luv the way your kid did the pasta and esp how she flipped the pasta so well in that pan! wishing you all the best in these times, stay safe!

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  3. Lovely post! I love your recipes and stories. I am from NJ as well and have two girls, one of whom is a gymnast! Thank you for sharing a heartfelt post of covid recovery.

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