one pan · low flame · 25 minutes
no maida
white sauce pasta
No photo yet. Searched the camera roll and found everything except this. Next time it is on the stove I will stop and take one.
the one thing to know
You do not need maida for this. Atta does the same job and it is already in your kitchen. All purpose flour was propaganda.
For how to boil the pasta itself, that is in the easiest protein pasta.
what you need
Seven things, and half of them are already open in your fridge.
pasta
whatever shape you own
atta
gehu ka atta. the roti one. that is the whole point
butter
salted, or garlic butter if you have it
milk and pasta water
one glass of milk, and save the water you boiled the pasta in
masaladani
namak, pepper, chilli flakes, whatever else is in there
cheese
whatever is in the fridge
vegetables
aukat anusaar. mushroom, broccoli, corn if you are asking me
method
- 01
melt butter in a pan
About a tablespoon. Low flame, and it stays low till the end. You only want it melted, not browned.
- 02
add 2 to 2.5 big spoons of atta
Haan, atta. The same one your mother makes rotis with. It behaves exactly the same way here.
- 03
work it into the butter
Keep moving it with a spatula till the atta and butter come together into one paste. Still low flame.
- 04
wait for the smell
It should start smelling bhuna hua, the same smell as atta roasting for halwa. That is exactly what we want here too. Before that it is still raw flour sitting in butter.
- 05
milk in, slowly, whisking
One glass, thoda thoda karke, whisking with your other hand the whole time. Slow pour and constant whisk is the reason there are no lumps.
- 06
pasta water, then keep whisking
All milk and it comes out heavy. What I do is put some pasta water in also. It is starchy so the sauce still thickens, bas it does not sit in your stomach afterwards. Keep whisking, and when it starts clinging to the whisk it is ready.
- 07
now the masala
Salt, pepper, chilli flakes. Peri peri if you have it. A little ketchup also, if you do not want it fully white and creamy. I do that sometimes.
- 08
add the boiled pasta and mix
Al dente, boiled the same way as the other one.
- 09
cheese, mix again, done
Add the cheese. You can skip it, but I do not know why you would.
the vegetables
Optional, and a second pan. Oil, then whatever you like. With white sauce the only three I really want are mushroom, broccoli and corn. Butter and garlic in there too if you feel like it. Blanch the broccoli first.
once you are good at this
You stop needing the second pan. Cook the vegetables, push them up one side, drop butter into the cleared middle and roast the atta right there. Bring it all together into that paste, then start on the milk. It works, it is just easier once you already know what the sauce is supposed to feel like.
Measurements approximate. Tested on me, repeatedly.