1 cup of Roasted Red Peppers ( or 2-3 fresh Red peppers roasted in oven on 380F for 30 minutes till their skins come off) –> Just lay them on a baking pan (+baking sheet) and bake!
A handful of fresh basil
Optional: chopped baby spinach
Pasta Dough:
1.5 cups all purpose flour+ more for dusting
1/2 cup Semolina Flour (take 1/2 cup semolina(sooji) and crush it up in a blender)
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste
3/4 cup lukewarm water+ more if needed
Tikka Marinara Sauce:
1 medium can of diced tomatoes
1 24. Oz of your Favorite Marinara Sauce or 3 cups Homemade Mariana sauce
1.5 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp red chilli powder+ 1/2 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp Punjabi masala (Shahi paneer or curry masala work as well)
1 tbsp Italian seasoning+ Fresh Oregano (or dried oregano)+ some Parsley
2.5 tbsp sugar (trust me you won’t taste it and it will elevate your sauce)
3/4 cup heavy cream
Crushed red peppers to taste
Black pepper and salt to taste
To make the Sauce:
- Heat up some oil in a pan, add the ginger paste and sauté.
- Add the fresh herbs and all the seasonings till it starts turning aromatic.
- Add the diced tomatoes (don’t drain the juice) and cover the cooked mixture on medium high flame until the tomatoes become soft (~7 minutes).
- Mash the tomatoes with a masher or the back of a spatula.
- Mix the marinara sauce and cook the sauce for 10 minutes.
- Chop about 1/4 cup of roasted red peppers very finely and mix them in the sauce as well.
- Add the heavy cream once the sauce is cooked and simmer on medium flame for ~5 minutes.
- You can adjust the sugar, salt, crushed red peppers and heavy cream according to your taste (only if needed).
- The sauce should have the authentic Marinara taste to it with a kick of our tikka spices!
Pasta Dough:
- If using a stand mixer: Mix the flours, salt, oil and start the mixer on slow and slowly add the lukewarm water until a soft but stiff dough forms.
- Knead the dough on a well floured surface for a few minutes to get all the gluten to form well. The dough shouldn’t stick to your hands but if poked, it should spring back. Make sure the dough is not too stiff and dry.
- Wrap the dough in saran wrap and store in the refrigerator for at least 15-20 minutes (or longer if you are making the pasta later).
Fettuccini:
- In a well floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Make sure you dust the dough very well on each each so it doesn’t stick.
- Roll out the dough where you can see your hand behind it if you pick it up. But it shouldn’t be too translucent where it just breaks apart with a slight touch.
- Cut out thin strips with a pizza cutter, dust some flour over the cut up strings again and start rolling up the strings with your fingers and make small nests. (kind of like playing with a clay ribbon haha)
- Put the bunches aside on plate. Make sure all the cut up strings are well floured again to prevent the sticking. You can make a big pile of those strings or you can make small nests like I did shown in the picture.
- Let it air dry for 20-30 minutes.
- The fresh pasta cooks REALLY QUICKLY! So have the boiling water ready!
- Boil a pot of water with a pinch of salt. Once the water is boiling really well add the fettuccini nests and stir with a wooden spoon to ensure the pasta is not sticking at the bottom.
- This should be done in less than 5 minutes. It looks done when the color starts changing and you can always break off a little piece and check to see if it is cooked. It should taste like boiled pasta do!
- Drain and set aside.
To Mix it all together:
- Add a little butter and Italian seasoning in a pan, mix in the pasta, tikka marinara sauce, roasted red peppers and top it off with some fresh basil leaves.
- Cook for 5-7 minutes and once its all done, grate some fresh Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese. Enjoy!
Soul N Spice 