Pasta Integrale Recipe | Handmade Whole Wheat Tagliatelle Pasta Recipe

Vegan Pasta Recipe with Whole Wheat

Pasta Integrale means 'Whole Pasta', made using whole grains, with all their nutrition intact!

Pasta Integrale or Whole Grain Pasta

Course: Course 3 (Grain Dish) for Lunch & Dinner Meals
Cuisine: Italian Recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 2 People

INGREDIENTS

For Pasta Integrale:

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour coarsely ground
2 tbsp Flaxseed Powder
Water

For Marinara Sauce:

5 tomatoes
2 Onions
10 pods garlic
2 tsp Miso Paste
1 plant Basil
1 tsp Black Pepper Powder

For Garnishing:

1/4 cup cashews
2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tsp Miso Paste

INSTRUCTIONS

How to make Handmade Whole Wheat Pasta

1. Mix flaxseed powder with 3/4 of the whole wheat flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the center, slowly add water little by little, while kneading. Once the dough has come together, stop adding water and knead to a stiff dough. The dough should be soft to the touch, but not sticky. If sticky, add more flour. If too hard, add more water.
2. Take a ping-pong ball sized piece of dough and roll it into a ball between your hands. Flatten into a thick disc.
3. Dust with the remaining whole wheat flour and roll it out into a roti or chapathi with a rolling pin.
4. Dust some extra flour on both sides of the roti. Using a long, sharp knife, cut long strips as thinly as possible, and mix them up with the extra flour that they have already been dusted with. This type of pasta is called tagliatelle. Keep aside and repeat with the next ball of dough.
5. In the meantime, fill a large vessel nearly fully with water and heat until it boils.
6. Once water is boiling, take a handful of tagliatelle and drop it into the boiling water. After 2 to 3 minutes, the tagliatelle will float to the top and not sink back to the bottom.
7. Fill another vessel almost fully with cold water and keep it next to the boiling water. Using a ladle, transfer the cooked and floating tagliatelle to the vessel with cold water. After a minute or two, once it has cooled down completely, remove the tagliatelle and transfer to a plate or another vessel.

How to make Tomato Marinara Sauce

1. Peel Onions. Chop onion and tomato into quarters, and grind into a smooth paste.
2. Heat in a thick bottomed saucepan or vessel.
3. While it is being cooked, peel and crush or grind garlic into a paste. Keep aside for ten minutes, then add to the boiling onion tomato mixture.
4. Chop off the roots from the basil plant.
5. Once cooked, remove from stove and add miso paste, basil and black pepper powder.

How to Make Pasta Integrale

1. Grind cashews with vinegar and miso paste and a little water to make cashew cream.
2. Simply mix cooked and cooled pasta with marinara sauce, garnish with cashew cream and a couple of basil leaves. Serve Pasta Integrale fresh!

Nutrition Science Highlights for WFPB Pasta Integrale Recipe

1. Why Miso Paste? Miso paste is fermented & salted soya bean paste. American Heart Association Maximum recommended maximum daily salt intake of 3.75 grams per person to minimise risk of high blood pressure, stomach cancer and chronic kidney disease. In addition to helping us restrict salt intake, replacing salt with miso paste also helps by neutralising the negative effects of salt by soya phytonutrients. You can easily make fresh miso paste at home by mixing 100 grams of cooked soya paste with 10 grams of salt, or 10 tablespoons of cooked soya paste with 1 tablespoon of salt. If making at home, ensure to use immediately, or freeze in batches to use later. Or, simply use 3.75 grams of salt or less per day per person and add 18 to 20 grams (dry weight) of soya beans in any dishes, spread through the day!
2. Why whole grains? Whole grains are healthier than refined grains such as white rice, refined flours, maida, rava, etc., as the bran layer is intact, with all its vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Whole grains have been found to be protective against a whole range of chronic diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, and lifestyle-related cancers.
3. Why cool grains? When cooked grains are allowed to cool on the counter or in the fridge, the starch crystallises to form resistant starch. This can be eaten by our good gut bacteria and also reduces the glycemic index (the rate at which glucose is absorbed), making the whole grain even healthier. For the same reason, parboiled whole grains can be used as well.
4. Why flaxseed powder? Whole grains are super healthy foods, but whole grain flours, not so much. Because of a smaller particle size, the starch from ground up grains gets absorbed much faster than from intact whole grains, causing a glucose spike and insulin spike in the blood. This is why we recommend coarsely ground whole grains as against finely ground whole grains. When we cook dishes using whole grain flours, it is wise to add an ingredient that makes the dish sticky and slows down absorption. Flaxseed is a perfect addition for making rotis. In addition, flaxseed contains high levels of omega 3 fats and cancer-fighting lignans. For the same reason, eating grain flour dishes with pulses and legumes, such as roti and dal, is a great idea too.
5. Why not dairy? Dairy products have been found to be associated with increased risk of chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity, asthma, PCOS, and heart disease. We can still enjoy our milk, cream, and butter though - as long as they are made from whole plant foods!
6. Why crush garlic and wait? When garlic is chopped, crushed, ground or bitten into, two chemicals stored in different parts of garlic's cells combine in a chemical reaction to form allicin. This is a slightly bitter compound that deters insects, but happens to be very beneficial to our health. Allicin helps reduce blood pressure and protect the heart and other organs, fight off lung infections, and reduce inflammation. Unfortunately, cooking destroys one of the enzymes required to form allicin. This can be overcome by crushing garlic and keeping it aside for ten minutes while the chemical reaction takes place. Once allicin is formed, it is heat stable and can be safely cooked. Alternatively, some raw garlic can be added after cooking, to a dish that has cooked garlic in it.