Foodiva's Kitchen: Dragonfruit Striped Ravioli

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Dragonfruit Striped Ravioli

Everybody should have his personal sounds to listen for - sounds that will make him exhilarated and alive or quiet and calm.
~ Andre Kostelanetz

Among the few things in life I find relaxing to do is making pasta. The others are swimming (in the ocean), ogling at the stars on a clear evening and creating something beautiful, be it food, jewelry or paintings. 

Okay enough of that, back to the pasta. When I first posted about my quirky dish for the 5-Star Makeover Challenge, a number of readers commented on the striped ravioli I made using dragonfruit and some even asked how I did it. Well, I promised to show you and *ta-daah*...here's a video of my hands doing all the work. Once I can afford the hair and make-up guy, you'll get to see me from the neck up, I promise. For now, you can admire my cool T-shirt that looks as if a massive bearded guy is about to devour the ravioli!



This striped ravioli is easy to make, looks super fancy and is fun to eat. When you cut into the ravioli, the gooey dragonfruit mingles with the spring onions to give a sweet-savory flavor to the pasta – delicious!


Start with a basic pasta dough; the recipes vary wildly depending on your sources. The recipe below is one I find easy to use, as well as easy to convert to a vegan version by swapping out the egg with water or clear vegetable broth in the pasta dough. The filling here is vegan friendly anyway, but you could also try alternative fillings like sweet peas mashed with a bit of mint leaf, or roasted pumpkin or butternut squash mashed with a bit of salt. Just remember to change the color of the stripes accordingly :-).


Have a good Wednesday, everyone!

Dragonfruit Striped Ravioli

Basic Egg Pasta Dough
To make about 1/2 pound (2 servings):
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg*
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 tablespoon lukewarm water

To make about 3/4 pound (3 to 4 servings):
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 tablespoons lukewarm water

To make about 1 pound (5 to 6 servings):
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lukewarm water

* For the dragonfruit pasta, I just replaced one egg with 2 tablespoons dragonfruit juice.

Filling:
1/2 to 1 medium dragonfruit, diced
spring onion stalks, sliced finely

1. Place the flour on a large floured surface.
2. Make a well in the center. Break the eggs or add the dragonfruit juice into the well.
3. Add the salt, oil, and water. Beat the mixture in the well with a fork.
4. Using a fork, gently start to work the flour into the liquid. Continue until the dough becomes sticky and difficult to work with the fork.
5. Use your hands to form the rough dough into a ball. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
6. Cover with a bowl or towel and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes before rolling and cutting the pasta.
7. For striped pasta, you’re going to need two portions of dough, one plain and one colored with the dragonfruit juice. If you prefer, you can use various natural colorants – powdered spinach, matcha or beets, for example. You could use liquid natural colorants (like beet juice) as well — just keep a handful of flour on hand to make sure you’re able to adjust the texture of the dough.
8. Start rolling out the plain dough first with a pasta machine. Stop when the thickness is on the second- or third-to-last setting. Set aside.
9. Roll the colored dough in the same way and then pass the dough through the fettuccine cutter on your machine.
10. Lay your plain pasta sheet on a well-floured surface and brush the exposed side with a brush dipped in water. Arrange the colored pasta strips on the uncolored sheet and press gently to adhere.
11. Lightly dust the top of the pasta and run through the pasta roller. I start at a slightly wider setting (third or fourth) on the machine to set the stripes, then gradually move to thinner settings to get the right thickness for my ravioli. It takes some practice to get the stripes clean and straight, but even crooked stripes make delicious noodles!
12. To make the filling, chop the dragonfruit flesh into small cubes and mix with finely sliced spring onions in a bowl. Place spoonfuls of filling on the bottom sheet of pasta and carefully cover the filling with a second sheet of pasta. Press around the filling to ensure as little air as possible gets inside the pocket, and seal carefully by pressing edges between your fingers.
13. To cook the ravioli, bring a pot of well-salted water to a rolling boil. Gently lower the ravioli into the boiling water and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Carefully remove the pasta from the water and serve. I like mine with a drizzle of browned butter and slices of crispy garlic chips.

28 comments:

Cher Rockwell said...

Maya! It was too cool to watch you in action. You have some mad pasta skills. Fun post.

Naoko said...

This looks so beautiful.. Love the video too..

Foodiva said...

Hi Naoko, thanks for coming by and so glad you found the video interesting ;-).

Foodiva said...

Cher! I just finished responding to your comment and it subsequently disappeared! Anyway, the manic madness only comes out when the video is speeded up. Otherwise, the real time footage is rather mundane and full of second guesses. LOL.

ann low said...

I love your tutorial. Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe :)

RavieNomNoms said...

What a cool recipe! This is awesome! I just love the colors and what an interesting way to use dragonfruit!!

Anonymous said...

These look amazing! I bet they were delicious.

Sandra said...

Oh wow wow....woww:)))) I can stop saying wow..this is absolutely amazing idea dear Maya..I can even imagine the powerful taste of these ravioli!! Nicely done!!!

Foodiva said...

Ann, thanks. It was great fun doing the video tutorial, the tedious bit was the editing but I'm slowly getting the hang of that too ;-).

Foodiva said...

Ravie, the pink ribbons on the ravioli tie in with the national breast cancer month (Oct) over here. Cute, isn't it? :-)

Foodiva said...

Yummychunklet, yes they sure were! Thanks!

Foodiva said...

Sandra, wow...I'm so overwhelmed by all your WOWS. LOL! Not sure about them being powerful, but the ravioli sure tasted good!

Ana Helena said...

Maya! I loved watching you in action. What a great colorful recipe. I love homemade ravioli. Thanks for sharing!

Priyanka said...

Wonderful looking ravioli

Unknown said...

Pink and white striped raviolis are a stroke of genius here at Foodiva's Kitchen and your videos are remarkably helpful!
Your raviolis are exotic looking and I would love to enjoy a taste;-)

Tasty Trix said...

You are a genius!!!!! I really do love this, so beautiful. Watching your pasta roller makes me wistful cuz I had a similar one and the springs in the handle exploded and the whole thing broke. : ( Then I had to roll by hand, a disaster.

Tammy said...

A work of art for sure! Nicely done, Foodiva! :))
I've had dragon fruit once, but what a fabulous idea to make Ravioli with it. Beautiful presentation. And I quite enjoyed that video!
xoxo,
Tammy

Unknown said...

che supermeraviglia, dio mio!!! complimenti davvero! :) ti ho inserita nell'elenco visibile del mio blog!

Evelyne CulturEatz said...

Really enjoying the videos. And I think you are so patient to make pasta...regularly lol. I found it funny how you kept in the part of scraping your fingers clean ha!

Tori @ The Shiksa in the Kitchen said...

Beautiful ravioli! New to your blog, loving it so far. :)

Unknown said...

Ana Helena, it was only my hands in action...but I guess they're good enough for now! LOL. Thanks, though!

Unknown said...

Priyanka and Patty, many thanks for your lovely comments!

Unknown said...

Trix, oh no, it will be a really sad day when the time comes for my pasta roller to break down like yours did! I will be grieving no end because I've had mine for nearly 15 years (although I've only really used it over this past year. LOL). You need a new pasta machine, my girl!

Unknown said...

Tammy, great to know that you've had dragonfruit because then you actually DO know what it tastes like! It was just fun to do something different with it like this ravioli, for instance :-).

TinaRBK said...

My mother has had this fruit and she says it is pretty tasty!
Your demo is really impressive- I learned a lot from this post, gives me a little more confidence that I would be able to make this.

A very enjoyable post with a delicious creation-thank you for posting this!

Adriana said...

I loved the video so much Maya! The pasta looks lovely and you make it look so easy. I can't wait to try the technique with spinach or pumpkin.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Just wow! As so often happens I came here to read your FFwD post and got distracted by all of the other tasty looking posts. That video is just amazing. I find the thought of making basic pasta intimidating, but your dragon fruit pasta looks more like edible art.

Kris' Kitchen said...

WOW Maya! Your video is way better than anything I've seen in a long time on FoodTV! I'n planning to show this site to my girls...they have been bugging me to make pasta for the past month...this would be so much fun. Very professional. Thanks for posting this; you are a pro. And...wish I could send my Stephy-Wephy to visit you...she is a stylist and gives makeovers and you would have so much fun. But...I imagine you are beautiful just the way you are.

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