All-Natural Homemade Rainbow Pasta
This simple, healthy homemade rainbow pasta is naturally coloured and a beautiful way to add the rainbow to your plate.
Servings5 -6 portions
Calories209kcal
The pasta base for each colour:
- 1 cup '00' grade pasta flour
- 1 Clarence Court Burford Brown egg
For the all-natural colours:
- Red: 1 boiled beetroot & 1 orange pepper/carrot optional, it is used to lighten the redness of the beetroot
- Orange: 1 roasted red pepper -OR- 1 boiled carrot
- Yellow: 1 roasted yellow pepper -OR- 1 tsp turmeric powder -OR- 1-2 fresh turmeric roots
- Green: 1 cup spinach leaves -OR- 1 cup parsley
- Purple: 1 cup boiled red cabbage & 1/2 tsp baking powder optional, used to adjust the saturation of the purple -OR- 1-2 small baked purple potatoes
Dressing suggestion:
- 2 garlic cloves minced (or chopped finely)
- olive oil for sautéing
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Start by preparing the different all-natural coloured pasta doughs. You can choose to go with only one colour or as many colours as you'd like. Just keep in mind that you have to add 1 cup of flour and 1 egg for each colour and per portion). You might also need to add a bit more flour to wetter ingredients (like the peppers) so that the dough is not sticky.
RED PASTA:
- For the red pasta, use 1 medium-sized boiled beetroot. You can also add some orange pepper or a boiled carrot to adjust the redness of the beetroot.
- Blitz the egg, the flour and the veg in a high-speed blender or food processor until you obtain a smooth dough. It may be easier to blend the vegetables before adding them to your dough so the dough is smooth faster/easier.
- Knead the dough with your hands to form a smooth ball. If it sticks to your hands, add a bit of flour. Leave it to rest.
ORANGE PASTA:
- For the orange pasta, use 1 red pepper. You first need to roast it in the oven for 10-15 mins.
- Blitz the egg, the flour and the red pepper in a high-speed blender or food processor until you obtain a smooth dough. *
- Knead the dough with your hands to form a smooth ball. If it sticks to your hands, add a bit of flour. Leave it to rest.
YELLOW PASTA:
- For the yellow pasta, you can use either 1 roasted yellow pepper or turmeric (either powder or fresh root). If you choose to go with the pepper, you can also add a pinch of turmeric powder to make a brighter yellow.
- Blitz the egg, the flour and the yellow pepper or turmeric in a high-speed blender or food processor until you obtain a smooth dough. **
- Knead the dough with your hands to form a smooth ball. If it sticks to your hands, add a bit of flour. Let it rest.
GREEN PASTA:
- For the green pasta, you can use either 1 cup of spinach or 1 cup of parsley. I tried both and each of them makes a great green colour.
- Blitz the egg, the flour and chosen green leaves in a high-speed blender or food processor until you obtain a smooth dough.
- Knead the dough with your hands to form a smooth ball. If it sticks to your hands, add a bit of flour. Leave it to rest.
PURPLE PASTA:
- For the purple pasta, you can use either 1 cup of boiled red cabbage or 1-2 bakes purple potatoes. When using the cabbage, make sure to discard the water in which it boiled, we only need the leaves. You can also add a pinch of baking powder to the cabbage to adjust the hues of purple.
- Blitz the egg, the flour and chosen veg in a high-speed blender or food processor until you obtain a smooth dough.
- Knead the dough with your hands to form a smooth ball. If it sticks to your hands, add a bit of flour. Let it rest. ***
Shape the pasta
- After the rainbow pasta dough has rested for about 30 minutes, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough till it is flat enough to feed into a pasta machine on level ‘0’. Continue feeding it through ‘0’, folding it in half then feeding it through repeatedly until a regular shape. Make sure to sprinkle lightly with flour to stop it from sticking. Then you can make it thinner with the machine.
- -OR- If you use a rolling pin for the whole process, make sure to roll it out and stretch it into thin sheets.
- Once you have obtained thin sheets of pasta dough, you can proceed with cutting it. I chose to cut it into long strips, like Tagliatelle or Pappardelle, but you can cut it in different shapes/sizes.
- To cut it into long strips, you just need to fold the pasta a couple of times and then just cut with a knife. Or, if you are using the pasta machine, choose one of its other settings for cutting.
Cook the pasta
- To prepare the dressing, just chop the garlic cloves and sauté them in a bit of olive oil. It's as simple as that! Alternatively, serve with a sauce of your choice.
- To cook the all-natural coloured pasta, put it in boiling water and cook for 3 minutes, combine with the dressing and serve immediately. I chose to cook each colour separately so that the colours won't mix (the red especially might seep through) but you can cook them all together.
- Mix in with the sautéd garlic and sprinkle with pepper. Enjoy your delicious and gorgeous all-natural rainbow pasta!
Notes
- * Note: You might need to add a bit more flour as the pepper has a higher water content. We don't want a sticky dough. Just add the flour as you blend.
- ** Note: If you are using the pepper, you might need to add a bit more flour as the pepper has a higher water content. We don't want a sticky dough. Just add the flour as you blend.
- *** Note: The purple colour will likely change a bit as the dough rests so let your dough rest for 30 minutes before proceeding with the next step.
Nutrition
Serving: 1Bowl | Calories: 209kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 109mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 5g
