Hi there, Mamas! As promised, here is the toddler-approved recipe for sweet potato and ginger ravioli and my first-ever #RecipeWednesday post.
Please note that this recipe is adapted from a recipe originally found here.
I felt (amazingly) like I had loads of extra time over this past three-day weekend, so I decided to make a little something special for my favorite girlie. I had had this recipe set aside for a while, but I must admit that I was intimidated by the whole pasta-making thing. So not an issue. This recipe was sooo easy and didn’t really take too much time – perfect for a nap time project.
L has always loved sweet potatoes. They were her first “vegetable” ever and her fifth overall food (I will post a log of her new-food timeline, because, like most detail-oriented RDNs, I was super anal about recording everything that went into her mouth… at least for the first few months).
Of course, I started by getting all of the ingredients together – been burned one too many times getting half-way through a recipe only to realize that I don’t even have everything it calls for…
The original recipe called for all-purpose flour, but I subbed whole wheat flour to up the fiber, magnesium, and selenium content. The recipe called for 2 ounces (weight) or 1/2 cup for each of the flours. I measured mine on a food scale to make sure I had 2 ounces of each.
Weight is usually a more accurate measure for solid ingredients, since cups or table/teaspoons can be heaping or not-quite-full. Don’t forget to tare the scale after you’ve put your bowl or other vessel upon it!
Combine the flours and then [gradually] add in the water and olive oil… I skipped over the “gradually” part, but it seemed to work out okay.
So, once you gradually add the oil and water, mix it using a food processor at a very low speed, and it should make a ball of dough.
Next, knead the dough. I put down a little flour to help prevent the dough from sticking – just a tip: the whole wheat flour worked a lot better than the semolina flour for this purpose. Once it’s kneaded, divide it into two pieces (I weighed mine on my trusty food scale to make sure they were even) and roll out each piece as thin as possible.
In the meantime, mash up the sweet potato with the ginger. I didn’t measure it out exactly, but if I had to guess, it was probably about a half-teaspoon. Plop some good-sized lumps of sweet potato mix along one of the sheets. Then, cover the lumps with the other sheet of dough and cut around the mounds.
Once cut, you can create pretty little “ravioli” edges with a fork. After they’re sealed, drop just a few at a time into some boiling water. They’re done when they rise to the top – literally like three minutes a batch.
Once they’re finished cooking, just let them cool, and your little one will be ready to dig in!
A few notes: I had way too much pasta around the edges, so next time I will add more filling. The original recipe suggested serving with tomato sauce or applesauce for dipping. We’re not quite to the dipping stage yet, but she loved them plain!
Here’s the actual recipe. Hope you and your little ones enjoy, Mamas!
Ingredients
- 2 oz whole wheat flour
- 2 oz semolina flour
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium sweet potato, cooked and peeled
- 1 pinch of ground ginger (or to taste)
Instructions
- Combine the flours, then gradually add the oil and water, mixing thoroughly using a food processor set at the lowest speed.
- This should produce a ball of dough. If the mixture is too dry, add more water - only a little at a time - until the ball of dough forms.
- Knead well, then divide into two pieces.
- Roll each piece out as thinly as you can.
- Mash the sweet potato with the ginger (if using).
- Place heaped teaspoons of the sweet potato at intervals along the first pasta sheet.
- Put the other pasta sheet over the top and press down with the fingertips around the sweet potato 'mounds'.
- With a sharp knife, cut around each 'mound', then create decorative edges with your fingertips or by pressing all the way around with the prongs of a fork.
- Place the ravioli shapes, a few at a time, into a pan of boiling water. They are cooked when they rise to the surface.