Chicken Fiesta Pizza with Homemade Pizza Sauce

Chicken Fiesta Pizza with Homemade Pizza Sauce

I haven’t tried my hand at baking bread/s hence I usually buy readymade thin crust bread base for my pizzas. I’m sharing this recipe is because the pizza sauce, that I make from scratch, is delicious. This pizza sauce is courtesy my sis-in-law Khorshed. She taught me how to make this sauce years ago. For me, no other pizza sauce compares to this. As for the toppings, feel free to use whatever suits your fancy.

Ingredients for Sauce:

4 large onions, finely chopped

100 grams mushrooms, sliced

20 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste

1 teaspoon red chili-garlic paste

½ -1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder

3 packets tomato puree

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon chili sauce

2 medium sized green capsicum, finely chopped

4 tablespoons sugar (or to taste)

Salt, to taste

¾ -1 tablespoon vinegar (or to taste)

2–3 tablespoons corn flour mixed in ¼ cup water

Extra Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts, boiled and cut into small cubes

6 chicken frankfurters, lightly sautéed and cut into diagonal rings

6 to 8 slices of chicken salami, lightly sautéed and cut into pieces

1 onion, sliced for garnishing

1 medium capsicum, chopped for garnishing

100 grams mushrooms, sliced for garnishing

400 grams Mozzarella cheese (if you’re a health/diet conscious person please use less)

6 six inch pizza breads

Oil

Butter, to dot

Method for Pizza Sauce:

1. Heat some oil and fry the finely chopped onions till translucent. Throw in the garlic and sauté.
2. Add the ginger-garlic paste, red chili-garlic paste, and red chili powder and fry well.
3. Add tomato puree, soya sauce, chili sauce and let it cook till the tomatoes change to a darker color and lose the raw taste n smell.
4. Add the cubed chicken pieces, finely chopped mushrooms, capsicum pieces and cook for about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the vinegar, sugar and salt. (Adjust all three according to your taste.) Allow to cook for a minute more.
6. Gradually (one tablespoon at a time) add the corn flour mixture to the tomato gravy. It should be of thick, spreadable consistency. 

Method for Pizza:

1. Take a pizza bread, spread the chicken pizza sauce, layer with mushroom slices (I prefer to put the mushroom on the sauce instead of putting them on top coz on grilling the pizza they tend to turn dark and look very ugly if you are planning to click a picture).
2. Top the mushrooms with mozzarella cheese and then top the cheese with sausage, salami, capsicum and onion pieces.
3. Dot the top of the pizza with a wee bit of butter and grill for about 15-20 minutes or till done and cheese melts and bubbles. 

Chef Notes: 

1. This quantity makes six 6” pizzas.
2. I have given the exact amount of sugar and vinegar as used by me but I advise you to add both, sugar and vinegar, little by little, and adjust the flavor to your liking when you use it.
3. I have chosen chicken as the topping. Feel free to use whatever topping you prefer.
4. I put the mushrooms on the sauce instead of putting them on top (because on grilling they turn dark and spoil the look of the pizza, more so if you are planning to click a photo of it.
5. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism. 

Chicken Chettinad

Chicken Chettinad

Spicy and aromatic, this superb ‘Chettinad’ recipe hits all the right spots. The original Chettinad recipe does not have cashews or cream in its list of ingredients. I wanted to give the recipe a twist of my own, hence have used cashews and cream to enhance the texture of the gravy. With the amount of spice involved you may feel it will be unbearably spicy but it’s not. The spice level is absolutely perfect! The flavors blend beautifully. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 chicken (about 800 grams), cut into 10 pieces

7 tablespoons oil

2 onions, chopped fine

15 curry leaves

4 large tomatoes, pureed

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

¾ teaspoon red chili powder

3” piece ginger

10 large flakes garlic

1 tablespoon poppy seeds / khus-khus

35 grams cashew nuts, broken into pieces

1 cup cream, gently smoothen with a whisk or fork

Salt, to taste

Coriander leaves, chopped, to garnish

Chettinad Masala:

½ cup freshly grated coconut

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

2½ teaspoons peppercorns

9 whole red Kashmiri chilies

3 green cardamoms (use only seeds)

3 cloves

1” cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon oil

Method:

1. Soak poppy seeds and cashew nuts in a little warm water for 15 minutes.
   
   
   
   
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan. Add coconut, coriander, cumin, fennel, red chilies, cloves, cinnamon and seeds of cardamoms to the oil. Stir fry till fragrant and remove from fire.
   
   
   
   
3. Drain poppy seeds and cashew nuts.
4. Grind the roasted masala with the drained poppy seeds, cashew nuts, ginger and garlic to a smooth, thick paste with ½ cup water.
   
   
   
   
5. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok or a heavy bottomed vessel, add the chopped onions. Fry till light brown.
   
   
   
   
6. Add salt, turmeric, red chili powder and sauté for a few seconds. Add the pureed tomatoes. Sauté tomatoes till they are cooked and oil separates.
   
   
   
   
7. Add the ground paste, sauté for two minutes.
   
   
   
   
8. Add chicken pieces and curry leaves and cook, stirring intermittently, for 2 minutes.
9. Add 3 cups water, cover and cook. Keep stirring carefully, once every 5 minutes, while the chicken is cooking. Cook till the chicken is tender and the gravy thickens. Keep aside till serving time.
   
   
   
   
10. At serving time reheat the chicken; lower heat, add 1 cup smoothened cream. Keep on low heat, stirring continuously till it simmers gently.
11. Garnished with coriander leaves. Serve with onions rings and lime wedges.
    
    

Chef Notes:

1. If you reside in a country that has strict laws in regard to using poppy seeds, you may substitute it with extra cashew nuts.
2. Whenever a recipe asks for cream, always opt for Amul low-fat cream. Using cream helps retain the texture of the gravy. That way you get to use cream, retain the texture of the dish and you save up on added calories that you just can't avoid if using heavy cream. If you are extremely health-conscious, use half the quantity of cream.
3. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.
   
   

Vegetable-Lentil Low Cal Soup

Vegetable-Lentil Low Cal Soup

To a foodie like me the word ‘low-cal’ brings to mind the words tasteless, insipid and ‘NO’. When I tried this soup I was proved totally wrong. Here’s a low cal soup recipe that’s truly yummy but don’t take my word for it. Give it a shot and check it out for yourself. It’s healthy and it fills you up when you’re on a diet. A soup-stick or two with it turns it into a full meal. I kid you not!!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons split red lentil/orange masoor dal, wash and soak for 20 minutes

1 small 2” aubergine/egg plant/baingan, chopped into 4 pieces

2 inch piece bottle gourd/dodhi, chopped into 6 pieces

½ - 1 carrot, peeled and chopped

2 spinach leaves, washed and roughly torn into 2-3 pieces

½ -1 green chili, chop into two pieces

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 tomato, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic

1/8^th teaspoon mustard seeds

1/8^th teaspoon cumin seeds

3 curry leaves

Salt, to taste

Pepper powder, to taste

Few sprigs coriander leaves, finely chopped

Lime juice, to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Heat a pan and lightly dry roast the mustard, cumin and curry leaves for a minute till a nice aroma rises. Do not burn it.
2. In a pressure cooked add the dal, aubergine, bottle gourd, carrot, spinach leaves, green chili, onion, tomato, garlic, roasted seed mixture and salt.
3. Add 2 to 2½ cups of water and pressure cook for 2 whistles. Lower flame and cook for 2 more minutes and shut off the stove.
4. Open cooker when all the pressure releases and when mixture is lukewarm, grind the soup in a grinder.
5. Add pepper powder to taste and adjust salt if needed. Reheat and add finely chopped coriander and lime juice (optional) just before serving.
6. Serve with baked croutons or soup sticks. 

Chef Notes: 

1. You can add a piece of chicken to enhance the flavor of the soup. I’m a hard-core non-vegetarian and yet I don’t feel the need to add chicken because the soup by itself is so flavorsome and delicious. If you do use chicken, please remember to remove the piece of chicken before you grind the soup. Re-add it after you puree the soup.
2. Instead of split red lentil/orange masoor dal you can also make this with split red gram/tur dal. 
3. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.