cheese and spinach ravioli

2 people — 40 minutes

We have arrived in New Zealand, the land of plenty. All of the foods that we like and miss are here. Foods like nutritional yeast, miso and soba (to name a few).

With a fully re-stocked pantry, we started to make faux-cheese again, a recipe from Vegan Richa that is simple to make and that we love. The recipe is for a cheese that can be cut into wedges, or that can be grated over pizza. I had an idea to use this recipe to make filling for ravioli, the difference being that we won't add any agar agar (a seaweed based powder that makes liquids gellify)

Making the ravioli is easy, and requires laying out a thin sheet of dough, and adding bits of the spinach and cheese mix into separate small mounds across. Leaving enough space between each 'mound' is necessary, as another sheet of dough is laid overtop and that the space ensures that both sheets will stick together.

chickpea flour15 g
nutritional yeast15 g
arrowroot starch22 g
garlic powder1.25 g
onion powder1.25 g
chili pepper flakes1.25 g
spinach20 g
lemon juice5 ml
apple cider vinegar2.5 ml
soy milk180 ml

For the filling, mix all of the dry ingredients into a bowl, then add all the wet ones (including the chopped spinach) and stir well until evenly mixed.
Heat a pan at medium heat, pour the filling into it. The mixture will thicken. When it does, transfer it back to a bowl and keep it aside for later.

all purpose flour120 g
water160 ml
salt1.25 g

To make the dough, mix 1.25 g (1/4 tsp) of salt with 120 g (1 cup) of all purpose flour. Add 160 ml of water, knead the dough on a floured surface, working in extra flour if the dough is too sticky. Once you have a smooth ball of dough, wrap it up and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.
Divide the dough into two pieces, and roll out the first half of the dough to make it as thin as possible — and as rectangular as possible. Roll out the second piece of dough into a similar size and thickness.
On the first sheet of pasta, place a mound of filling of the faux-cheese and spinach mixture every 5 cm across and down the pasta (spaced out to look like a checkerboard).
Dip your finger into a bowl of water, and make a line in between each row of filling (the water acts as a bond to hold the ravioli together).
Place the second sheet of rolled-out pasta on top of the first one, pressing down firmly around the filling and along the wetted lines.
With a knife (or ravioli cutter, if you feel fancy), cut the pasta into squares along the wetted lines. Keep separated pieces of ravioli aside.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, and add the ravioli. Stir them gently to keep them from sticking to another another or on the bottom of the pot. Cook for 7-8 minutes or until fork tender.
Serve with a light sauce, we made one with chili pepper flakes, fresh basil and olive oil. A light tomato sauce would also be delicious.