Quest for a healthy pasta dish

'Cooking for a picky kid' - it's a tongue-twister and a brain-teaser 😉. Here is how I made a healthy version of N's favourite pasta from scratch, using ingredients usually found in a south Indian home.

1. Pasta dough

This can be made using any of the following flours or combinations. 

• Maida/refined/all-purpose flour - if you are looking for a chewy, tasty, generally likeable pasta version, increase the maida ratio or even go all-out with 100% maida.
• Wholewheat flour/godhumai maavu - if you are a health freak or if you are dealing with maida allergy (I suspect N has it) or if you just like the nutty, wholesome flavor like me. 
• Semolina/rava + Chickpea flour/kadalai maavu combo - I have seen many recipes using this but when I tried, it didn't work out so well for me. The rava flour has to be finely ground for this to succeed.
• Oat flour - I love oats. I'm yet to try making pasta with this. 

My best try so far has been the 80% wholewheat + 20% maida (refined/all-purpose flour) combination. It is both healthy and gives enough elasticity to the dough. 

For example, for one serving, I add 4 tbsp/quarter cup/56g of wholewheat flour and 1 tbsp of maida. 

    2. Pasta shape

I am always looking for new ways to present food to excite N into eating a few mouthfuls more 😅. Here are a few video links and GIFs (trimmed from the video for your convenience 💁) demonstrating how to make different pasta shapes. 

Fettucine 

No-name/I call it 'conch' shape 

Farfalle 

Fusilli 

Spaghetti

• For later use - You could air dry the pasta shapes and store it at 4 degree C in an airtight container. (I haven't tried this yet).
• For immediate use - After shaping the pasta, lubricate it with a few tsp of oil so that the individual pieces don't stick to each other. Boil two cups of water. Add a couple of pinches of salt and a tbsp of oil. Put the pasta in the boiling water for a few minutes, test it for al dente and drain it using a sieve. Your pasta is now ready to be mixed with the sauce.

3. White sauce

N loves white sauce. 

• Quick version - Gently heat a tbsp of butter+some milk (depends on how thick you want the sauce to be)+some shredded cheese+ a pinch of salt (add it towards the end to avoid milk curdling). Toss your pasta in it and serve.
• Longer and tastier version
• Prepare a cup of chicken stock by following this easy recipe.  If you are a vegetarian, may be you could replace this with vegetable stock instead.
• If you love the garlicky flavour, chuck in some finely chopped garlic. 
• Add a tbsp of cream cheese (made using this recipe, it's used in various dishes).
• Add a tbsp of corn flour (after dissolving it in some water to avoid forming clumps).
• Add your favourite veggies like peas, carrot etc. 
• When the sauce is at your preferred consistency, toss in the pasta. 

Food photo created by stockking - www.freepik.com