How to make fresh pasta without a machine - Step by step pictures

How to make fresh pasta without a machine - Step by step pictures

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I made fresh pasta from scratch for dinner this evening and on a whim, I live tweeted the making of this using the hashtag #makingfreshpasta which evoked a lot of enthusiastic responses. That's the reason I decided to compile all the tweets and the pictures (iPhone camera) into a quick post. Pardon the picture quality, my iPhone was already groaning under the blanket of flour and olive oil it was being subject to!


I only want to show you how simple the procedure is, even without any fancy machines. The fettucini procedure is a bit lengthy but for starters, you could just cut squares (as in step 6), in fact that was yummier than the more labour intensive fettucini.


This recipe is vegan as it uses no eggs or butter. If you use eggs in the pasta dough, surely you'll get a richer tasting end product. If you can make rotis, you can do this handmade pasta. No sweat!


If you don't want to miss a single interesting update from my kitchen, then follow my facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/SaffronTrail - We can also have many an interesting foodie conversation there!


On to the recipe:


Vegan handmade pasta from scratch , no pasta machine required

Pasta dough adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to cook everything vegetarian

I used the recipe eggless pasta dough recipe:

2 cups AP flour ( I used 1/2 cup cornmeal and 1.5 cups AP flour along with a tbsp of dried basil)

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

½ cup hot water plus some more

Make a smooth but very firm dough by mixing flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well, add olive oil. Add 1/2 cup hot water, mix with a fork until it comes together. Knead with your hands using a tsp of hot water at a time until you get a firm, smooth dough.

Wrap in cling film.

Refrigerate for 30 mins at least.

Make 5-6 balls from the dough, and follow the given procedure with each.

Step 1 - roll each ball into a thin sheet 

Step 2 - Dust with flour- Roll into cigar 

Step 3 - Cut into 1/4 inch or so slices

Step 4 - Unroll each circle to a long strand 

 Step 5 - Keep each such batch spread out on a plate to dry for a few minutes

Step 6 - Or to save a whole lot of trouble cut into squares with a pizza cutter- kids won't mind this 

Step 7 - Keep a large pot of water to boil with some salt and 2 tsp oil and drop the pasta (any one type at a time) carefully when the water is boiling. Pasta squares have come to the top indicating that they are ready to be fished out. Fresh pasta once dropped into boiling water takes 2-3 minutes to cook

Step 8 - Make any sauce you like, in advance and toss the pasta in some sauce. Serve hot. 

Step 9 - The fettucini that took so much effort got cut into shorter pieces while cooking -tasted nice though

Sauce : In olive oil, saute finely chopped garlic, finely sliced small onion, 3-4 mushrooms sliced and few sliced pitted olives. Once onions are soft, add 4 tomatoes (blanched, peeled and chopped), balsamic vinegar, chilli flakes and salt. Mix in a tbsp of pesto ( I used rocket pesto) or just a handful of finely chopped basil.