Pasta, one of Italian cuisines

Friday, September 5, 2008

When we hear the term Italian cuisine, the first name that comes in our mind is pasta. Though it was originated in Italy, it is famous worldwide. Pasta is like noodles, made from certain grain flours with water and/or eggs mixtures. Among the different shapes and forms of pasta there are string shaped pasta called spaghetti and vermicelli. There are also ribbon shaped fettuccine and linguine, short tube shaped elbow macaroni and penne, tiny shapes like couscous and orzo and large shapes like lasagna. There are hollow pastas also like ravioli, manicotti and tortellini.

You can have them stuffed with fillings. The paste is kneaded to give different shapes and forms. Pasta can also be the dishes where pasta is an important ingredient and served with sauce or different seasonings. Gnocchi is one of these pasta dishes. But here different ingredients are used and cooking process is also different.

You can also find frozen pasta all over the world. More varieties of pastas are mainly found in the places where the Italians and their culture have deep impact. There are companies that produce packed pastas that can be fresh for 7 weeks. According to FDA (Food and Drug Administration) of US, half cup of cooked pasta per day helps a person to meet the necessary folate level per day with an extra amount of 220 micrograms or more folate. Boiling pasta is the basic of recipes of all the pasta dishes. The sauces and the other ingredients make all the differences. There are obviously some exceptions like soups, gnocchi, lasagna and manicotti. But, as you know, exceptions cannot be the examples. There are some secrets for cooking pasta like cooking in salted water, adding the paste after the water starts boiling, stirring occasionally and fast draining and serving. Pastas do not need undercooking or overcooking. If there is any assistance that you need, always remember our website is only a click away.

Dave Fooder runs a premiere exchange recipes network online. Visit his site http://www.cookscentral.com for Fast Free & Easy Cooking Collections and enjoy exchanging recipes.

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Delicious Modern Rice Noodles

Thursday, September 4, 2008

By Jeya Lakshmi

The Noodles is not a modern food item it is eaten from 4000 years ago in China and then it is slowly spread to Northern America and rest of the world. At first Noodles were made only by millets. In Northern America Noodles are made by Wheat & Rice. The communication develops all people made Noodles as per their taste with using items like Wheat, Rice, Millets etc.

A Noodles is a delicious dish and also it is a item of fast food. Noodles were invented 4000 years ago in China. Mainly Noodles are made from Wheat, Millets etc. Wheat & Millets are high contents of carbohydrates, proteins etc therefore Noodles also high contents of carbohydrates, proteins & other nutrients. Noodles are made faster in cheap rate. This shows that eating Noodles is a cheap and good for Health also. The native dishes derived from Malaysia and Indonesia take full advantage of vegetables.


Rice noodles are noodles that are made from rice. Their principal ingredients are rice flour and water. Rice noodles are most commonly used in the cuisines of East and Southeast Asia, and are available fresh, frozen, or dried, in various shapes and thicknesses. This is a good salad for a hot day.

N- Noodle

O- Omni (in all ways)

O- Optimal (best)

D- Delicious and

L- Loved

E- Everyone.

Noodle is Omni Optimal with Delicious and Loved by Everyone
Rice noodles is a very simple dish. Rice noodles are lovely to use and very light and easy to digest, take care not to leave in the boiling water too long otherwise they over cook. Vegetable rice noodles is a very flavor and very tasty and preparation is very easy. There are a few different kinds of rice noodles. The ones referred to here are flat, dried and about the width of linguine. Please purchase online www.indomunch.com in NewYork city.

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Pasta Shapes Chart

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Source: CNN.Com

PASTA SHAPES & SIZES

Long, straight pasta noodles

TYPE:

SHAPE:

BEST USED:

SERVED:

Capellini (Angel hair)

Long, rounded, very thin

Hot

With light sauces, or tossed with olive oil and fresh steamed vegetables

Vermicelli

Long, rounded, thinner than spaghetti

Hot, can be used cold

With light sauces, or tossed in pasta salads

Linguine

Long, flat, narrow

Hot

Large enough to hold slightly thicker sauces, for example a marinara sauce

Spaghetti

Long, rounded, average thickness

Hot

With tomato-based sauces or baked in casseroles

Fettuccine

Long, flat, wider than linguine

Hot

Thick sauces, especially creamy sauces

Lasagna

Long, very wide, may be flat-edged or have curled edges

Hot

Baked, in lasagna and other casserole-type dishes

Curly pastas

TYPE:

SHAPE:

BEST USED:

SERVED:

Rotini (Spirals)

Fairly short spirals

Hot or cold

With thick/chunky sauces or in pasta salads

Fusilli

Long, corkscrew-shaped spaghetti

Hot or cold

Very versatile, good with most sauces, in soup or in pasta salad,

Tagliatelle (Egg noodles)

Same width as fettuccine or linguine, but not flattened

Hot

Baked dishes, soups, stroganoff

Tubular pastas

TYPE:

SHAPE:

BEST USED:

SERVED:

Ditalini

Small, very short tubes

Hot or cold

Soups or pasta salads

Elbow macaroni

Curved tubes

Hot or cold

Baked dishes, or in pasta salad

Perciatelli (Long macaroni)

Long, thin, straight tubes

Hot

Use in place of spaghetti

Ziti

Slightly curved tubes, wider and longer than elbow macaroni

Hot or cold

Baked, in pasta salads, with thick sauces

Penne

Straight, medium-length tubes, often ridged instead of smooth, cut on diagonal

Hot

In soups, baked, with a wide variety of sauces

Rigatoni

Straight, short tubes, wider than penne, also ridged

Hot

Variety of sauces; ridges hold thick or creamy sauces well

Cannelloni

Large, long tubes

Hot

Stuffed

Manicotti

Longer and wider than penne, may be ridged

Hot

Stuffed

Other shapes

TYPE:

SHAPE:

BEST USED:

SERVED:

Alphabets

Letters of the alphabet

Hot

In soups

Anelli (rings)

Small, O-shaped

Hot

In soups

Bow Tie Pasta

Squares pinched in the middle to form bow-ties

Hot

In soups and with grains, like buckwheat, in side dishes

Conchiglie (Shells)

Shells with one long, narrow opening

Hot or cold

In soups, baked, in pasta salads

Conchiglioni (Jumbo shells)

Like regular shells, but much larger

Hot

Stuffed

Orzo

Size and shape of grains or cooked rice

Hot

As side dish

Radiatore (Radiators)

Ruffled and ridged, like a radiator

Hot; can be used cold

With thick or creamy sauces, in soups, in salad

Ruote (Wheels)

Wagon wheels

Hot

In soups, casseroles, with thick sauces

Filled pastas

TYPE:

SHAPE:

BEST USED:

SERVED:

Agnolotti

Small, crescent-shaped, may be filled with a variety of meats or cheeses

Hot

With variety of sauces

Gnocchi

Dumplings, may have cheese, potatoes or spinach in dough

Hot

As side dish

Tortellini

Small, filled, ring-shaped pasta

Hot

Good with a variety of thick or creamy sauces

Ravioli

Usually round, with cheese or beef filling

Hot

Baked or boiled, with thick sauces

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The History of Ramen Noodles

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Ramen noodles originated in China, where all noodles seem to have come from, and are called "Lo-Mein" in Chinese, which means boiled noodles.

"Ra-men" is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese Characters for Lo-Mein.

Lau







Ra









Me
Mein







N

This Chinese-style noodle became such a great favorite in Sapporo, the capital of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, that it is now considered to be their regional dish. Ramen is to Sapporo what baked beans are to Boston. In other countries, the word for Ramen may be different, too. For example, they are called "Maggi Mee" in Singapore.

The process for turning the traditional Ramen noodles into the now familiar instant, packaged noodles was pioneered by Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Foods in Japan. In 1970, Nissin Foods introduced Top Ramen to the United States and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

Many other companies introduced Top Ramen clones and even such industry giants such as Lipton and Campbell's began to experiment with Ramen-like products. Fierce competition notwithstanding, Nissin still controls slightly less than half of the U.S. Ramen market and fifteen percent of the world Ramen market of about ten billion dollars annually. At this writing, the average wholesale price for a package of Ramen in the U.S. is only twelve and a half cents.

Because of their enthusiastic acceptance in the market place, it wasn't long before instant Ramen skipped over national boundaries and became an international phenomena. Factories that make Ramen noodles can now be found not only in Japan and the U.S., but in Europe, Korea, China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Each country's Ramen noodles reflect their own particular flavor preferences. Korean Ramen is highly spiced and often contains packets of black bean sauce. China makes Ramen in Szechuan flavors. Thailand makes very thin, delicate noodles with very hotly spiced packets. Japan prefers the flavor of seafood and mild spices. In the U.S. they are usually available with meat flavors, mushroom flavors or mild spices often referred to as Oriental flavor.


Source: http://www.konzak.com/ramen/ramhist.html



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