Italian cuisine is praised for bringing loads of wholesome pasta dishes into the world. Among myriad varieties, ravioli is a popular type of pasta that comprises a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough. It is traditional Italian food that is served by throwing it in a flavourful broth or sauce. They are delicious pockets of pasta enclosing various fillings. One can say that ravioli is nothing but an Italian dumpling. If you are an expert at making any kind of dumpling, making ravioli should be a cinch for you. For those who are beginners, these four tricks will help you ace this Italian dish at home.
Knead A Smooth Dough
For making ravioli, you have to begin by kneading a dough using key ingredients like flour, water, eggs and olive oil. Prepare a smooth dough using your hands and then keep it aside. Leave the dough to stand for at least 30 mins or an hour. Make a round ball of the dough and wrap it around a plastic covering before leaving the dough to rise at room temperature.
Roll, Flip And Fold The Dough
Making ravioli involves a series of steps that one has to go through during its preparation. Using the dough, make two balls out of it and then gently roll them with a rolling pin. Once thinly rolled, fold both the balls and then roll again. Flip before and after rolling. Keep rolling both the balls into long strips until it turns thin and then finally stuff it. You have to place one strip of dough on top of the other and then cut its edges for final shaping.
Stuff It Up
Before rolling the dough into a final shape, fill it with a sweet or savoury stuffing as per your desire. Stuffing can include ricotta cheese, spinach, nutmeg and black pepper. If you have another filling idea on your mind, feel free to use that too.
Baking Is The Best Option
Frying and baking are the two most common techniques that are used for making ravioli. Avoid frying as it can become soggy quite easily. Also, there are chances that the ravioli might break in the oil too. For ease and comfort, baking is the best option. Always brush the surface of ravioli with olive oil before baking them.
Is Italian food on the menu tonight? Check out this recipe.