It may appear simple to cook, but the end results always leaves you disappointed and ready to shed a tear, when you see how mashy it has turned out.
Here are some reasons the interwebs blames for your poor pasta:
1. Your pot is too small
Do you use a small sufuria to cook pasta?
It turns out that if you add pasta to the little water in the small sufuria, you lower the water temperature. This forces it to now take longer to boil again, meanwhile your pasta is lying in the cold water and getting mushy and clumpy.
When you use a smaller sufuria, the pasta has less water to cook in. This results in a higher amount of starch in the pot, which will cause your pasta to come out sticky after you drain the water. To be safe, always go for a big pot, even if you’re only cooking a small amount of pasta.
2. You leave out the salt
You’re slimy pasta (yuck) is this way because you didn’t put salt like the instructions told you.
If you read the back of your box of pasta, it will tell you to boil the pasta in salted water. How many of us think that it’s just wrong for pasta to cook with salt? What salt does is roughen up the pasta so it doesn’t come out disgustingly slimy.
3. You forget to stir
Once your water is boiling, be sure to stir your pasta in, as opposed to just dumping it and waiting until it’s cooked, so it doesn’t all sink to the bottom of the pot, or they will stick to the bottom of the pot, where they start sticking together, resulting in mushy pasta. No thank you!
4. You pour out the cooking water
Once your pasta is cooked, hang on to a cup or so of the cooking water.
This water is now starchy and full of pasta flavor, and it just might come in handy. It’s important to keep the water to add later when you add sauce especially when it appears it needs some ‘thufu’ to take clumpy and dry sauce to a new level.
The water helps loosen up the sauce so it can coat every noodle, while the starch in the water helps it cling to the pasta better.
5. You rinse the pasta
Cooking pasta is one of the easiest ways to throw together a delicious, home-cooked meal, so don’t add any extra steps.
Rinsing strips your pasta of some of that starchiness that will cling to the sauce.
There’s no need to rinse your pasta with water once it’s cooked. Simply drain it and add your sauce.
6. You make way too much
Most of us have large families and cook an entire box of pasta right?
Judging how much dry pasta to cook is tricky especially in an African family setting. Trouble is, heating up leftover pasta usually results in a sticky, gummy mess. When it comes to pasta, fresh is best, to avoid wastage.
7. You leave your pasta waiting too long before serving
Pasta needs to be served as soon as it’s cooked. Never make it wait in the serving dish.
While your pasta cooks, make sure to have a sieve ready in the sink so you can drain it as soon as it’s cooked. Once it’s drained, place your pasta in a warmed bowl and toss with warm sauce.
Are there other tips you use to make your pasta worth eating? Share by dropping comments below.
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