Turkish yogurt pasta with chili butter
Warm pasta on a bed of cool garlicky yogurt, drizzled with sizzling paprika chili butter and fresh mint, all the comfort of Turkish manti without the dumplings.
- 30 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $1.26 a serving
- 460 calories
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups plain Greek yogurt, at room temperature
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 12 oz farfalle
- 3 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt, plus ½ tsp
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
Each serving has about 460 calories, 21 g protein, 68 g carbs and 12 g fat, and costs about $1.26 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No plain Greek yogurt? Plain yogurt or sour cream works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Take the yogurt out of the fridge 20 minutes before you start. Stir in the garlic and ½ teaspoon salt.
Grate. Grating means rubbing food across the holes of a grater to make fine shreds or flakes. It spreads cheese, garlic or ginger evenly through a dish so it melts right in.
How you’ll know: Even shreds fall off the back of the grater, and you stop while the piece is still big enough to hold.
Dolly’s tip: Cold yogurt straight from the fridge makes the pasta cold. Room-temperature yogurt is the whole trick.Fill a large pot with water, add 1 tablespoon salt, cover and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cook the farfalle until .
Al dente. Al dente is Italian for “to the tooth”: pasta cooked until tender but with a slight firm bite in the center. It holds up in sauce and keeps softening a little after you drain it.
How you’ll know: Bite a piece a minute before the package time: tender, with a slight firm bite in the middle and no crunch.
High heatTimer: 11 min
While the pasta cooks, the butter in a small over medium heat and let it foam 1 to 2 minutes, until it smells nutty.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the paprika and pepper flakes. It will sizzle and turn brick red.
Dolly’s tip: Off the heat is important. Paprika burns in seconds in a hot pan.Scoop out ½ cup of , then the farfalle.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Stir 2 tablespoons of the warm into the yogurt to loosen it, then spread the yogurt over four plates.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Pile the hot pasta on the yogurt, spoon the chili butter over the top, and scatter with mint and parsley.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
