Mung Bean flour Spaghetti, Pappardelle Pasta et al – Panfusine inspired!

Every once in a while, I come across a recipe which just thrills my heart and I can’t rest an Allergy-Friendly version has been tested and proven a success by my taste-buds.  ‘Khandvi deconstructed.. Chickpea flour Spaghetti & Pappardelle Pasta’ by Niv Mani of Panfusine fame was one such recipe.

Khandvi is an appetizer native to Gujrati cuisine. Niv describes a khandvi delectably, ‘a beautiful, almost impossible vision to behold, gossamer thin, jellied strips of chickpea flour & sour yogurt, tiny miniature savory Swiss rolls that delightfully wobble in your mouth before delicately disintegrating & gliding  down your throat, making way for…the next little morsel!’ 

As a lifelong vegetarian – I love Gujrati cuisine (in Western India) because it is predominantly vegetarian and uses an astonishing variety of allergy-friendly grains and lentils – Buckwheat, Sorghum, Millet, Mung Bean and many more. Methinks, I should do an exclusive post dedicated to the entire gamut of allergy friendly grains, beans and lentils used in Gujrati cooking…hmm!

This is one of those dishes that is so darn hard to get right – right up there with the Angel Food cakes and Souffles of the world, pheww!! Little wonder that I loved Niv’s easier twist on this super hard dish. All I needed to do was find allergy friendly substitutes for chickpea flour and skip the sesame seeds!

In my opinion, mung bean flour comes closest in being able to imitate the properties of chickpea flour and it also has a couple of aces up its sleeve…

• Mung bean has been found to be less allergenic than chickpea/ garbanzo beans
• It packs less calories than chickpea flour – that counts as a huge plus in my book 😉

Like Niv suggested, I tried making the shapes with the extruder press and lo and behold, I had beautiful spaghetti, papardelle pasta and star shaped sphagetti pasta. 

 

Presenting mouthwatering, allergy friendly, high-protein and high fiber Mung Bean Pasta…yes, it is for real 😉

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup Mung Bean flour
2. 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder (optional)
3. 1/8 teaspoon paprika/ cayenne pepper/ chili powder (optional)
   
4. 1 tbsp. allergy-friendly oil (I used Olive Oil)
5. Salt to taste ( under salt the dough, the pasta will be boiled in salted water)
6. 3 pints water for boiling the pasta
7. 1 tablespoon oil

Method:

1. Sift the  dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
2. Add the oil and 1 tbsp of water (or, rice milk/oat milk/ coconut milk/ coconut milk plain yogurt) . Using a silicone spatula, mix the ingredients together, adding 3-4 more tbsp of water  (or, rice milk/oat milk/ coconut milk/ coconut milk plain yogurt) in installments. Fold and combine until the flour turns into a thick sticky dough.
3. Bring the water to a boil. Add a generous pinch of salt and oil to the boiling water. In the meantime, prepare the dressing as described below.
4. Using an extruder press, press out the dough directly into the boiling water. The dough will first sink and then float. It takes about 8 minutes for the pappardelle ribbons, 10 minutes for the spaghetti and star shaped spaghetti pasta.

For the seasoning…

Ingredient:

1. 2 tablespoons any allergy-friendly oil
2. 1/8 tsp freshly cracked peppercorn
3.  Juice of 1 lemon
4. Juice of 1/2 an orange (I used Orange Juice from a can!)

Method:

1. Combine the lemon and orange juice in a small mixing bowl.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet. When the oil is hot, add the crushed black pepper.
3. Remove from heat & allow to cool completely.
4. Add the flavored oil to the citrus & whisk into an emulsion.
5. 

Remove the noodles with a spider skimmer, gently shaking off excess water. Add the noodles to a large mixing bowl and drizzle the citrus dressing. Toss gently to coat the noodles. Transfer to a plate and serve immediately.

Allergy Friendly, Protein-rich spaghetti can be gourmet too…

 

Mouth-watering Papardelle pasta…

Artisan star-shaped spaghetti…

Variations:

This dish can be seasoned in a few other fun ways:

• Add 1-2 green birds eye chili or 1/2 jalapeno de-seeded & finely minced to the heated oil before mixing it with the citrus juice
• Finely chopped fresh cilantro/ coriander just before serving
• Garnish with 2 tablespoons fresh coconut gratings and toss it just before serving.

Thanks Niv for your  amazingly inspired dishes. It makes me think out of the box every day 🙂