I wrote a blog post titled Pasta Colours in Belize a couple of months ago. We hadn’t finished our experimentation at that point because the pasta machine couldn’t take the Munchkin and Gnome marathon. Anyway, I promised that we would continue with the pasta colours on a later date. Now that we have the noodle machine, we re-started our research on other pasta colours in Belize. I mentioned that we needed a tomato red/orange alternative…this is what we have come up with. First we tried powdered annatto and this it the result. It’s isn’t your typical orangey tomato…it is more rusty brown-orangey:
Annatto Pasta
We still thought that it was a palatable and vibrant colour for a dish. Annatto powder is bland so you don’t get much in terms of contribution of flavour. The next experiment was carrot juice….this one we have fallen in love with…carrot pasta/noodles!! What a lovely colour!
Carrot Pasta
We have also been looking at sources of green coloured pasta. Just as a re-cap, we’ve had spirulina pasta:
Spirulina Pasta.
We have tried calaloo, an popular green amaranth that is grown in Belize:
Calaloo Pasta.
We have also made chaya pasta. Chaya (Cnidoscolus aconitifolius) is a green vegetable found in Belize…everyone in Belize says they love it and it’s heaps good for you but I have never seen a Belizean dish with chaya in it. This is what the plant looks like:
Chaya Plant.
We got very nice results with chaya; oooh, such a beautiful mottled look!!
Chaya Pasta SheetsChaya Pasta
Chaya is a good source of protein, vitamins, calcium and iron. Using it as an ingredient in pasta/noodles boosts the nutritive value. We are also very pleased with this colour.
I am sure that you have taken down all the Christmas decorations by now but I still have some holiday pictures to catch up with. Just one festive one and the rest are just things that we did around that time. How time passes quickly…Christmas has come and gone in the blink of an eye.
This a picture of a piece of black cake that we received from a friend. I don’t want to talk like I am any authority on black cake (because I am not) but it seems to me that the main ingredients are sugar (brown or white, plus or minus molasses), caramel colouring for the black colour, fruit, nuts and rum. Every household has their personal black cake recipe and every household has the best black cake recipe!! It is hard to compare because they can be so different…some people prepare their own fruits months ahead and some don’t even bother with fruit and nut. Essentially (I think) the most important thing is that it is black in colour. Anyway, this year we had the pleasure of a few of these as gifts…Thank-you to all!! A slice with a cup of tea is quite nice…this one has a drizzle of our Chocolate Velvet to make it even more sumptuous.
Black Cake.
I think that I mentioned that we had Christmas ham and that we had a lot of left-overs. On Boxing day, we made dumpling sheets from our wonderful Chinese noodle maker:
Dumpling Skins.
We made ham and potato dumplings with the skins. It took us the whole morning but we managed to finish up all our left-overs.
Boxing Day Dumplings.
We froze most of these so that we can have ‘fast food’ now and then. They are delicious deep-fried or steamed. We had them deep-fried for a treat on Boxing Day. It was a nice way to pass the day…just Munchkin and Gnome with the cats!
Fried Boxing Day Dumplings.
Oh yes…the cats…peace (for one day) on Christmas Day…they slept the entire day and night because it was sooooo cold!!
Just when we were saying that it was time to get out on the farm again because it was drying up, we had a big glorious downpour last night. We can’t get anything done!! And it has been a recurring theme all year!! It’s wet outside…what are we going to do? I am still not done cleaning up but it isn’t a fun thing to do for an end of year finale. Oh, but of course…we can get the noodle machine out!!
Noodle Machine.
This noodle machine weighs about 20lbs (10kgs) and it even comes on a stainless steel stand. It is made of cast iron and stainless steel…the plastic bits on the sides are just veneer to hide the metal gears…Gnome has taken the plastic bits off already because he thinks that they get in the way. Besides, he would rather see the exposed gears.
(I feel like I am writing a product review…Ha-Ha!!)
The Italian pasta machines were very light weight and had to be attached to the table in order to give them stability.
Another good thing (good thing because I am designated dough maker) is that you just need to mix the flour and water very quickly with a spoon. This machine is strong enough to do all the kneading. I can mix about a lb of flour at a time. With the Italian machine, it was about a 1/4lb at a time, the dough had to be kneaded by hand initially and then there was a lengthy dough working process with the pasta machine.
Be warned that using this machine still requires some arm strength but you can see that it has been designed with motorisation in mind. This machine is made in China…you may be surprised. Yes, but you have to realise that Chinese people eat noodles and there has to be machines properly equipped to meet the demand. This noodle machine is a commercial model or (according to their advertising blurb) can be used for large households to feed five or more people. It certainly does the job…
The other thing is…it is a noodle machine…not a pasta machine. You can make the following: one size of noodle (3mm…typical Chinese noodle size), ‘pasta’ sheets and dumplings. There is one noodle cutting attachment only. If you are looking for fancy mafaldine, you need an Italian pasta machine. Gnome has thought of ‘working’ the dough on this noodle machine and then passing it through an Italian pasta cutting machine but the widths of dough are not compatible.
Here is a picture of the noodle cutter in action:
Chocolate Noodles.
Noodles.
These are the noodle cakes that you get:
Chocolate Noodle Cakes.
We are very, very pleased!! Oh, and the price…some people might be interested. Italian pasta machines cost about USD$50.00. The noodle machine is about about USD$125.00. Definitely worth it if you are likely to make lots of noodles. 😉
It is deepest, darkest winter in Belize right now. The temperature is around18oC/ 64F and it doesn’t get light until 6am in the morning. It is really hard to get up when it is so chilly. The scarves, woolly hats and cardigans are out now and the cats are fighting for a cosy position on our laps. Anyway, I trust you all had a good Christmas; we ended up with a ham dinner since there was a cold front and drizzly showers on Christmas day. It was hard to start a fire and cook our goose in coals outside. Oh, and I was so cold, I asked Gnome to make mulled wine. Of course, we didn’t make it the traditional way (God forbid!)…I walked around the yard to pick all the ingredients…this is what we used: cinnamon leaf, allspice leaf, calamondin peel, chilli pepper and sorrel.
Cinnamon.Christmas Sorrel.
It was very warming and exactly what I needed for a cold winters day in Belize. All in all, Christmas day was quiet and the cats were so cold that they spent most of the time sleeping!!
Boxing Day was another cold day so we had the bright idea of bringing out the brand new noodle machine. Gnome cranked out skins to make ham and potato dumplings (from our Christmas leftovers!!). We spent the whole morning cranking and filling…ended up with 56 dumplings to freeze and managed to use up all of Christmas dinner. I will have pictures on a later post. Meanwhile, I will leave you with some pictures of our new noodle machine; Gnome is very pleased with it because it is a lot sturdier than the traditional Italian pasta machines. Perhaps this one will make it through a rigorous Munchkin and Gnome marathon! Ohhh…look at that!! Quite formidable looking…Made in China too!!
Noodle Machine.
Noodle Making Machine.
This one can take a pound of flour at one time, un-kneaded! Hours of fun!!
It is really had to start back on writing the Blog after this hiatus; it is actually easier to write everyday as you get into the rhythm of writing. Oh well, let’s try again!!
It’s been raining almost everyday so we have had to resort to indoor activities. We managed to get a new hand-cranked pasta maker that is a lot sturdier than the last one. The last one was a disaster for USD $25.00; it was a Made In China piece of evil terribleness which didn’t survive past the first crank!
“Evil Terribleness!!”
We’ve been experimenting with all sorts of wonderful and exotic ingredients including cacao butter, chocolate, banana flour and miso with great results. Here are few pictures to show what we have managed to crank. Thank goodness this machine is still going past the 20th crank (yay!!). Gnome said,
“Well. It’s because this one is made in Italy of course!”
Pasta Noodle Making:
Miso Noodles.
Fresh Chocolate Pasta Noodles.
No.3 Miso Noodles.
Banana Flour Noodles.
Cooked Home-Made noodles Chinese Style:
Cooked Noodles.
What a delight to have a machine that actually works. This means a lot when you are in a Belize because there is no Amazon 24 hour delivery…if we need anything from overseas, it is usually a 3 to 6 month wait! This one was worth the wait…
What a treat and a carbohydrate lover’s delight to make yummy stuff with a pasta machine. Yes, every now and then we have a total carb blitz and Gnome cranks up his pasta machine.
Rolling Out Dough.
My contribution is the making of the dough which just takes a couple of minutes. Now, the real Italian way of making pasta is actually to use the machine to “knead” the dough. So, no need for Munchkin to knead…just a quick mix is required:
Mixing Dough.
And the rest is Gnome know-how with the pasta machine (taught diligently by his mother). He has been churning out some lovely fresh pasta and pies!
Fresh Pasta.
Gnome Mini Pies.
Pasta machines are actually very versatile because, besides the pasta, you can also make pastries for pies, croissants, puff pastry, filo pastry and whatever else you can imagine. We have been eating pasta (noodles) everyday. Getting bloated and sleepy but still getting the farm work done at the same time. Well, we still have to work off all the calories!
Malabar spinach (Basella alba) grows really well in Belize especially in wet places. Our patch is growing prolifically:
Malabar Spinach.
It is eaten as a leafy green; can be eaten uncooked in a salad or cooked lightly. This is a mucilaginous type of green which should not be over-cooked. When cooked with care (ie. very short cooking times of about 1 to 2 minutes) it adds taste, freshness and a soft crunch to a dish.
A couple of weeks ago we harvested fresh cassava from the farm to make “Cuppa Cassava” which is our own home-made version of an instant noodle meal. As described in an earlier post, we prepared the root by peeling, cutting into pieces and steaming. After that, we put the cooked vegetable through a meat grinder in order to homogenize it and obtain a “noodle-look.” Then it was placed in the sun to dry for three days.
Instant Cassava Noodles.
We made an “instant” quick meal by adding boiled water (about 1+1/2 cups) to a handful of dehydrated cassava noodles; we covered this and allowed the vegetable to soften and cook for 10 minutes. At 7 minutes, a teaspoon of miso (our famous Peach Palm Miso) and a 1/4 cup of finely chopped green spinach were added to the mixture. And Hey Presto…Cuppa Casava Ramen was ready to eat!
Cuppa Cassava Ramen.
The cassava noodles had a chewy, firm texture with a bite. We both agreed that this was a good preservation method and this was definitely worth having in the pantry as “farm-made fast food.”
If you are thinking of fun things to do at home, why not make noodles? It is a great, short and satisfying project especially when you can directly benefit from it straight afterwards. Can also be a romantic thing to do together if you are so inclined to spend every waking hour together (like Munchkin and Gnome).
So, this is what we did:
We took:
2 cups of wheat flour
2 cups of rice flour
and added about 1 and 1/3 cups of water to make a dough. We Kneaded it until it was smooth and uniform in consistency:
Dough For Noodles.
Next, we rolled it out on a board. We used a wine bottle because it worked well and I have never seen a rolling pin for sale in Punta Gorda.
Rolling out dough.
Next, we cut the the sheet of dough into strips. This is a really neat way of doing it…you take a piece of card or wood and you cut against it to get even strips. We picked this idea up from watching a Japanese Anime in which the characters were making noodles.
Cutting Pasta
The cut noodles were transferred onto a clean dish cloth and sprinkled with flour to stop them from sticking:
Noodles.
With the quantities of flour, we were able to make 4 dough sheets in total. This amount of noodles serves 4 very hungry people or 8 conservative eaters.
At this point, you can dry them to keep or freeze them fresh. The wet noodles can be kept in the fridge for 48 hours.
To cook, place noodles in pot of boiling water and cook for 5 to 8 minutes until done. Then, serve it with anything your heart desires…pasta sauce, stir fry, whatever you want.
We then had a hearty meal of noodles cooked with char sui and tomatoes. Delicious and simple:
Noodle Yum Yum.
These noodles can be varied according to flour types, thickness of rolling out and size of strips. By varying these parameters, you can achieve different tasting noodles with varying textures and degrees of bite. We cut our noodles quite thickly so ended up with a chewy bite from the rice flour.
I want to talk abour Ramen Noodles and give it the appreciation that it deserves. Firstly, I would like to share a chidhood memory; I grew up in a Chinese family and in those days, we called them “dolly hair noodles” in Chinese. I do not actually know when the “ramen” word became popularised by marketing but I was not aware of that name in Chinese. I am sure some very bored people can filter through the Internet to find out the origin of this name. I remember, in my primary school days, walking home for lunch and feeling hungry. Lunch-time was an hour, it took about 10 minutes to walk to the house so there was not much time to fit in the cooking and eating time. My mum would usually quickly rustle up a bowl of dolly hair noodles with boiled chinese greens. There would be some kind of meat, fish or even egg floating about in the soup. It took her only about five minutes to make and I had enough time to enjoy the meal slowly. At the time, I appreciated it as a cooked meal as opposed to all my friends eating cold ham sandwiches for packed lunch. Now, I appreciate it because it is such a quick, easy meal to make when you have no time or when you are in a rush or you are too tired to cook a proper meal.
So, I would like to give Ramen noodles an appreciative thank-you because too often, I have noticed that foodies or “gourmet wannabees” give me such derogatory side glances when I even mention that I eat Ramen noodles! The reason why it has such a bad reputation is that most people do not know how to eat them properly. I, too cringe at the idea of sticking it in a bowl and microwaving it for 60 seconds! Please, let us be a bit more imaginative and civilised about a bowl of noodles.
Of course, today’s lunch of the day has to be Ramen noodles with veggies. I did not include any meat but I will give you the full version in the recipe page. I was in town all morning with shopping and deliveries and when I finally got home, I was starving! I quickly cooked up noodles with greens and I had my meal ready in five minutes. I am writing this article whilst enjoying my post-prandial digestive phase.
Ramen with Vegetable Medley.
If you are interested, here are a few hints on buying Ramen noodles since I have noticed that there are many brands in the supermarkets. I live near a wee town called Punta Gorda which has a population of between 5000-8000. Here, there are generally two brands to choose from: there is one imported from the States and there is one from Guatemala. I have tried both and I prefer the one from Guatemala because it is closer to “Chinese” noodles rather than “fast-food” noodles.
Guatemalan Noodles.
If you live in a more developed area, you will have your pick of brands of noodles. One suggestion is to surreptitiously find out what Chinese people buy because they always know which one is the best. The following is an example of a premium quality packet of noodles which was sent to us from Singapore. The noodles are actually steamed air-dried which shows the obsessiveness of Asians in knowing their noodle quality.
Premium Singapore Noodles.
So, in conclusion, when you have been running around all morning and you are hungry and tired, try not to reach out for the cookies or the snacks. Make a meal in five minutes, sit down and enjoy it, with-out the feeling of just grabbing the first thing you can find to stuff your face.
