What is Red Lentil Pasta?
Red lentil pasta is pasta made using red lentil flour. It is made basically the same way as regular pasta, except red lentil flour is used.
What is Red Lentil Flour
Red lentil flour is flour made from ground up dried lentils. You can make this flour yourself or you can buy it. For the Specific Carbohydrate Diet™ (SCD™) you will need to make sure the lentils were soaked at least overnight before they were dried and ground. For this recipe I bought red lentil flour from Wellbee’s – as of this writing, it is the only store-bought lentil flour suitable for SCD™.
How Do You Make Red Lentil Pasta?
Making the pasta is very easy. You just mix the lentil flour, eggs, and some olive oil. You can then roll it out into your desired shape. For this recipe I decided to make Spinach and Cheese Ravioli using a ravioli stamp. You can also cut into long noodles or lasagna noodles. I have not tried using a pasta machine, but that would probably also work for making noodles (not for ravioli).
Bean Flour and the Specific Carbohydrate Diet™
In Breaking the Vicious Cycle, author Elaine Gottschall writes that bean flours that are not made with properly soaked beans should be avoided completely, including store-bought pasta made with bean flours. She also says that bean flours have a very concentrated amount of starch, similar to how dried fruit is more concentrated in natural fruit sugar.
She does not say to avoid bean flour altogether if it is prepared properly, but it is something I would recommend using with caution. You may want to wait until symptoms have cleared for some time before trying something made with bean flour – even properly prepared bean flour.
Tips for Making Red Lentil Pasta
- The pasta dough is very sticky – you will need to use some extra lentil flour to keep it from sticking. The flour is expensive, but it’s worth it to do it right. Bean flour should be used sparingly so it’s okay to use what you need to get this right
- Be sure to keep coating with lentil flour as you go because if it sticks to the parchment paper or rolling pin it will ruin getting it thin
- Coat the top the dough and your rolling pin and roll it out directly on the dough – placing another sheet of parchment paper on top of the dough will just cause more sticking
- Roll as thin as you can and still be able to work with it because it does expand when cooking
- The ravioli takes 6 – 8 minutes to cook, you may cook a little less if you are making a non-filled pasta
- Test one the ravioli pockets for desired doneness before draining it all
What You Will Need to Make Red Lentil Pasta Ravioli
Red Lentil Pasta Ingredients
- Red lentil flour
- Eggs
- Olive oil
Spinach and Cheese Filling Ingredients
- Farmer’s Cheese (you can use very dripped yogurt instead)
- Fresh spinach
- Parmesan cheese
- Provolone cheese
- Salt & Pepper
- Italian spices or herbs
Equipment Needed for Making Red Lentil Pasta Spinach and Cheese Ravioli
- Mixing bowl
- Parchment paper
- Rolling pin
- Ravioli stamp
- Large pot
- Slotted spoon
- Colander
Final Thoughts on Red Lentil Pasta Ravioli
I hadn’t had ravioli in over 20 years when I made this and I’m so excited that it turned out so good. It was a little more work than the usual meal, but totally worth it. It’s exciting to be able to make something so satisfying. I’m also excited to make my own red lentil pasta from time to time to use for regular noodles and lasagna.
You can of course fill your ravioli with whatever filling you like, but I always loved just a cheese filling so that’s what I decided to start with.
If you’re craving ravioli, make this and be sure to let me know if you used the cheese and spinach filling or decided to try something else!
Want to make something else with your red lentil flour? Try my Lentil Flour Biscuits.
Ingredients
Red Lentil Pasta
- 1 cup red lentil flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Extra lentil flour for rolling
- Salt for seasoning the cooked ravioli
Filling
- ½ cup Farmer's Cheese
- ¼ cup grated or finely chopped Provolone
- ¼ cup grated or finely chopped Parmesan
- 1 cup fresh spinach leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp combination of your favorite ground Italian herbs (basil, oregano, etc) or 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh herbs
Instructions
Red Lentil Pasta
- Add lentil flour to mixing bowl and make a well in the center
- Add oil and eggs
- Stir eggs and oil so the yolks are broke and the eggs are mixed
- Slowly stir in the lentil flour until everything starts to come together
- Stir or use hands until everything is mixed and you can form a ball
- Place dough in refrigerator for 15 minutes
- Spread 2 – 3 sheets of parchment paper on counter
- Dust with lentil flour
- Dust rolling pin with lentil flour
- Take dough out of refrigerator and split in half
- Roll one half into a ball and place the other back in the refrigerator
- Roll the ball of dough around in the lentil flour so it is coated
- Flatten out with hands
- Turn it over to coat both sides in lentil flour again
- Start to roll out – if dough sticks to parchment or rolling pin, use a little more lentil flour as needed
- Roll it out so it's about an ⅛" thick
Spinach and Cheese Ravioli Filling
- Add Farmer's cheese, Provolone, and Parmesan to mixing bowl
- Stir until well combined
- Finely chop spinach leaves
- Add spinach to cheese mix
- Add salt and spices
- Stir until well combined
Assembling the Ravioli
- Determine how much space your ravioli stamp needs and place a small bit of the filling evenly apart in a row – probably about a teaspoon of filling – don't overfill because you need to fold over and close it
- Gently fold over the dough so the filling is covered
- Use your hands to make indents around the filling so you know where to press the stamp
- Press out the ravioli and crimp with fingers to close it
- Gather the leftover dough and roll it out again – using lentil flour to keep it from sticking
- Repeat with second ball of dough
- Fill up large pot about ¾ of the way with water
- Bring to a boil
- Carefully add ravioli
- Cook for six to seven minutes until pasta is cooked and not doughy – you will probably need to take one out and try to see if it's the right texture
- Drain ravioli in colander and sprinkle with salt
- Top with your favorite sauce
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