Mushroom Capsicum Pizza

This is the pizza I've always spoken so highly of. The pizza we grew up on. Long before Pizza Hut and Pizza Corner or Domino's came into India, this pizza replaced dinner on Monday nights. After talking about it for ages, I bring to you Amma's famous mushroom and capsicum pizza.

For the dough:

1 1/2 cups Flour

1 tbsp Yeast

1/8 cup Oil

1/2 tbsp Sugar

3/4 tsp Salt

1/4 cup Water, boiling

1/4 cup Milk

For the sauce:
1 Onion, chopped finely
2-3 medium Tomatoes, chopped finely
1 Capsicum, chopped finely
4 Button Mushrooms, chopped finely
2 tbsp Tomato Puree
1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to Taste

100g Mozzarella Cheese, grated
1 tsp Oil

For the dough:

Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil, salt and sugar in it. Add boiling water and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk now to bring the mixture to room temperature. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the flour and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Allow to rise until double in size (roughly 45-50 minutes).

For the sauce:

In a pan, heat the oil and add the onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum and mushrooms and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the oregano, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the puree and ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes.

To Proceed:

Grease a pizza plate.

Spread the dough over the plate. (You could roll the dough using a rolling pin. I prefer doing this by hand.) Spread the oil over the dough. Spread enough sauce over the base. Sprinkle the cheese over the pizza.

Bake in a hot oven (400 F) for 20 minutes. When done, cut into wedges. Enjoy your meal.

Whole Wheat Calzones

I love pizzas. I mean really really love them. But in all the years that I lived alone, I probably ordered pizzas about 5 times. That’s like once in 2 years. Since the time I got married, we’ve ordered pizza exactly once. The day we shifted into the apartment we currently occupy. For some reason, I have never quite liked getting food home. For starters, there’s the minimum order quantity. This means that, in all likelihood, we’ll have leftovers. Then there’s the problem of rotis applying for jobs at GoodYear or MRF. There’s also the problem of transferring food to the right utensils, heating it up, bringing out the plates and cleaning up after the meal. Given the trouble involved, if I don’t feel like cooking, I’d much rather just go out and eat. Somehow, even the hottest freshest pizza goes cold in the 30 minute trip to your doorstep.


How do I tackle my craving for this Italian creation? Earlier, I did this by making enough visits to Amma’s. Now I do so by making it at home. Turning the all flour version to the whole wheat version was one step towards making my favourite food healthier. Making this folded pizza was the next step. I made do with just 5 grams of cheese powder as opposed to the 100 grams that I normally use in an open pizza.

For the dough:

1 cup Wheat Flour
½ cup Flour
1 tbsp Yeast
1/8 cup Oil
1/2 tbsp Sugar
3/4 tsp Salt1 tsp Chilli Flakes
1 tbsp Garlic, chopped
1 tbsp Mixed Herbs
1/4 cup Water, boiling
1/4 cup Milk

For the sauce:

1 Onion, sliced
1 medium Tomato, chopped finely
1 Capsicum, sliced (I used small portions of green, red and yellow capsicum)
2 tsp Chilli Flakes
1/8 cup Broccoli, cut
1/8 cup Sweet Corn

1/8 cup Brinjal, chopped
6 Button Mushrooms, chopped
3 tbsp Spinach, chopped
3 pods Garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp Cheese Powder
1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Fresh Parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp Fresh Basil, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Olive Oil
Salt to Taste

For the dough:

Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil, salt and sugar in it. Add boiling water and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk now to bring the mixture to room temperature. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the chilli flakes, garlic, and herbs. Add the wheat flour and flour and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Allow to rise until double in size (roughly 45-50 minutes).

For the sauce:

In a pan, heat the oil and add the garlic and onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum, corn, brinjal, mushroom, spinach and broccoli and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the parsley, basil, oregano, chilli flakes, cheese powder, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomato and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes. This mixture should be much drier than pizza sauce.

To Proceed:

Grease a pizza plate.Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Spread each portion into a circle on a greased plate. Place a little sauce on one side of the dough and fold the dough over. Seal the edges and press down using a fork. Make slits on top.

Bake in a hot oven (400 F) for 20 minutes.This is so easy to make that I wonder why I didn’t try this earlier. It tasted great at dinner time and was just as good the next day at lunch too. It would be great to take on a picnic or during travel.

This one dish meal goes to Meeta for her Monthly Mingle. The theme this month is One-Dish Dinners. Other one dish meals at The Singing Chef can be found here.

Whole Wheat Herb Pizza

Is the first born always a favourite? I love baking. I have always loved it more than I have loved cooking. I am yet to figure out why. It could be the influence of having started with one before the other. This seems to be true with all my hobbies. I learnt cross stitch in class 5 and continue to make stuff as enthusiastically using it even today. But crochet and tatting, or even sewing, have had to be satisfied with the tag of “also ran”. The same is not true of my academics or career. In these matters, the youngest child always seems the most pampered one. (Yes, I have not always been in HR!)

If I had a choice between baking something for dinner and cooking something for dinner, it is anybody’s guess which one I’d pick. Until recently, baking meant bringing out the flour. So it was the one reason that I put off baking. But I’m discovering healthy alternatives to most foods that I otherwise used frequently. And it was completely by accident that I started baking yeast breads with wheat flour. I happened to run out of all purpose flour. And that was a turning point.

Some time ago, I made pizza at home and tweaked the dough for the base. I must say I’m mighty glad I did!

For the dough:

1 cup Wheat Flour
½ cup Flour

1 tbsp Yeast

1/8 cup Oil

1/2 tbsp Sugar

3/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Chilli Flakes
1 tbsp Garlic, chopped
1 tbsp Mixed Herbs

1/4 cup Water, boiling

1/4 cup Milk

For the sauce:

1 Onion, sliced

2-3 medium Tomatoes, chopped finely

1 Capsicum, sliced (I used small portions of red and yellow capsicum)

2 tsp Chilli Flakes

1/8 cup Broccoli, cut
1/8 cup Sweet Corn

6 Button Mushrooms
3 pods Garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Fresh Parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp Fresh Basil, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Olive Oil

Salt to Taste

100g Mozzarella Cheese, grated
1 tsp Olive Oil

For the dough:

Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil, salt and sugar in it. Add boiling water and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk now to bring the mixture to room temperature. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the chilli flakes, garlic and herbs. Add the wheat flour and flour and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Allow to rise until double in size (roughly 45-50 minutes).

For the sauce:
In a pan, heat the oil and add the garlic and onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum, mushrooms, corn and broccoli and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the parsley, basil, oregano, chilli flakes, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes.

To Proceed:

Grease a pizza plate.

Spread the dough over the plate. (You could roll the dough using a rolling pin. I prefer doing this by hand.) Spread the olive oil over the dough. Spread enough sauce over the base. Sprinkle the cheese over the pizza.

Bake in a hot oven (400 F) for 20 minutes. When done, cut into wedges. Enjoy your meal.

I somehow didn’t realize that I could compare notes with a dear friend who, for as long as I remember, has been “health conscious”. Of late, I’ve been having food related discussions with her. Earlier, it was always about life, love and academics. It’s funny how I never made this connection before. I spent quite a bit of time with her when I visited Madras as she was visiting with her daughter from Seattle. She treated me to home made whole wheat pizza.

Birthdays don’t always have to be about cakes, do they? Actually, who am I kidding? They have to be about cakes. But I’ve given myself the liberty of celebrating the birthday of one my oldest (no, I didn't mean her age!!) friends with a wheat-herb pizza. Happy Birthday Shobhi!!

Pizza and a milestone

I have been baking for a really long time. And I started baking with yeast only in the last 3 months. I've tried a variety of buns and breads and have been more successful than I thought I'd be.

Amma makes the yummiest pizza I've ever eaten. And I'm not the only one to think this. My best friend was visiting India for the first time in the 2.5 years since she moved to the U.S. A couple of weeks before she landed in Madras, we were on the phone with her and Amma asked her what she should make for her when she's here and she said, "Pizza" without thinking twice. Amma asked her, "Aren't you tired of eating Pizza there?" and she said, "But nothing is like what you make, Aunty!"

I'd never ventured to try and decided that eating Amma's pizza each time I visited my parents' place was more than enough. I do end up going at least 4 times a year so I can't really complain. (Even though this is at their dinner table every week.) But Amma was always asking me why I couldn't make this myself. I was scared of how it would turn out. And she'd say, "You make all kinds of bread, how can this intimidate you?" Anita also suggests that one can start baking breads with the easy pizza base. I finally summoned the courage to try this out last weekend. I started chopping vegetables to make pasta and halfway through decided to make pizza. I didn't have mushrooms in the fridge (it's usually a staple in our fridge, but when it is selling at Rs. 250 a kilo, I don't have the heart to use it as often!) and added whatever I could find. So, I did deviate a lot from Amma's original pizza sauce recipe. I'm not complaining!

For the dough:

1 1/2 cups Flour
1 tbsp Yeast
1/8 cup Oil
1/2 tbsp Sugar
3/4 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Water, boiling
1/4 cup Milk

For the sauce:

1 Onion, sliced
2-3 medium Tomatoes, chopped finely
1 Capsicum, sliced (I used small portions of red and yellow capsicum)
2 tsp Chilli Flakes
1/8 cup Broccoli, cut

1/8 cup Sweet Corn

1/8 cup Paneer, cubed
3 pods Garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Fresh Parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp Fresh Basil, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Olive Oil
Salt to Taste

100g Mozzarella Cheese, grated

1 tsp Olive Oil

For the dough:

Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil, salt and sugar in it. Add boiling water and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk now to bring the mixture to room temperature. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the flour and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Allow to rise until double in size (roughly 45-50 minutes).

For the sauce:

In a pan, heat the oil and add the garlic and onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum, paneer, corn and broccoli and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the parsley, basil, oregano, chilli flakes, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes.

To Proceed:

Grease a pizza plate.

Spread the dough over the plate. (You could roll the dough using a rolling pin. I prefer doing this by hand.) Spread the olive oil over the dough. Spread enough sauce over the base. Sprinkle the cheese over the pizza.

Bake in a hot oven (400 F) for 20 minutes. When done, cut into wedges. Enjoy your meal.

This is a recipe I've been wanting to try and post for ages. It took 6 months of food blogging to get this very special recipe out. I just completed half a year of blogging and have all of you in the food blogosphere to thank for making a smooth sailing for me. Along with family and friends, you've all egged me on. Thank you all for your support and love.

French Bread Pizza

Until a few years ago, there was a quaint little restaurant in Bangalore, near the junction of Residency Road and Brigade Road, that kindled my curiosity enough to walk in and the experience there made me go back. Again and again. This restaurant was French Bread Pizza.

All items on their menu were pizzas. Only they were made using the famous baguette as a base. Think of this as a large, really large piece of garlic bread with all the toppings. They served these little wonders on wooden holders specially designed to hold the baguette. When I finally moved back to Bangalore 2 years ago, the place, much to my utter disappointment, had shut down and given way to a Chettinad restaurant. Maybe it wasn't viable enough a business. I hope they come back into business because they've given me several moments of satiated happiness. The kind that only comes from having eaten a good meal.

Last evening, we went to Galleria, a shopping complex close by and walked in to the Grand Plaza bakery. There we found some fresh baguettes. I remembered that I had everything at home to recreate the French Bread Pizza magic at home. Ever since my trip home last month, I've been preparing to make Amma's signature pizza at home. But the incidents of the past 2 weeks didn't allow me to make anything so elaborate. This seemed perfect.

Ingredients:

1 Baguette

For the sauce:

1 Onion, chopped finely

2-3 medium Tomatoes, chopped finely

1 Capsicum, chopped finely (I used small portions of all 3 colours)

4 Button Mushrooms, chopped finely

2 tbsp Tomato Puree

1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Oregano

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Chilli Flakes

1 tbsp Olive Oil

Salt to Taste

2-3 Olives

100g Grated Cheese

Some oil/butter for glazing the bread

Slice the baguette in two and chop in half. You will be left with 4 quarters. Apply some butter or olive oil to the flat surface of each piece and grill for 3 minutes.

In a pan, heat the oil and add the onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum and mushrooms and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the oregano, chilli flakes, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the puree and ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes.




Spread the sauce over the grilled bread pieces and add the olives on top.

Sprinkle grated cheese over the slices and bake in an oven at 220 C for 7-8 minutes and then on grill for 3-4 minutes.




Enjoy this when hot with a glass of milk, coke, beer or breezer. I am sure that a glass of iced tea will go very well with this too.

This sauce is Amma's signature sauce and I will soon be putting up the recipe for her pizza as well. Initially, her sauce used to be only onions and tomatoes and any other toppings, we'd put over the sauce and then sprinkle cheese on it. I suggested to her that if she adds them in the sauce, they would imbibe the flavours of the sauce. The addition of ketchup was also my idea. Last night, I went ahead and added some puree and some chilli flakes to the sauce. No one was complaining!

This is my entry to Waiter There's Something in My...Sauce, and hosted by Andrew of Spittoon Extra.