Homemade Pizza / Pizza from 'scratch'

I have been intending to bake a pizza in my not-so-new-now OTG. I have baked it in the convection mode of my microwave and its been fine, but the result from the OTG was way way better.
I had promised my friend Vinny that I'd make this and post it and then it just took forever to get it done



On Saturday, I was all enthused to cook / bake, make something really nice for a nice relaxed lunch. My son had school for about 2 hours for the flag hoisting on Republic day. TH had a few meetings to get done with.
Music blasting from my little radio in the kitchen, nice cold breeze with the sun shining thru it and a whole lot of ingredients at home - my favourite way to get started in the kitchen...


Pizza dough set out to rise

I started with the pizza dough and then set it out in my balcony that had the sun streaking in. I had one whole hour on hand now. So dug out my fridge and found this pack of feta cheese, a bunch of basil leave and some ripe red tomatoes.
Feta is one expensive cheese here and so I keep planning what I'll make with it and try to find an occasion worthy of it, today just seemed like the day for it. Made a tomato and feta cheese salad with a basil vinaigrette.
In the pantry I found some sweet potatoes waiting to be used. Added some rosemary and garlic seasoning that my cousin had brought for me. Baked that - low on fat, high on taste.


Pizza dough after the rise (1 hour)

By this time my dough had double in size. Punched it down, spread this tomato basil sauce on it, sprinkled some cheese and it was all set to get baked...
I had once tried this roasted eggplant pizza in a lovely little place in the Harvard Square. My cousins from Boston took me there and I was really sceptical about eggplant on a pizza, but the taste was mind-blowing.
Thought of re-creating that for TH and me. A simple tomato sauce and cheese pizza was perfect for my son.


With the toppings and ready to bake

20 mins later, my son was gobbling it down - he said it was better than Dominos and Pizza Hut. And he left just two slices from his whole pizza ! Yaaay !



Made the eggplant pizzas with some crumbled feta cheese and basil, which turned out really really good. Topped it with piri piri sauce for that extra zing. Perfect weekend.

Making pizza at home is really simple, you can choose your toppings and have it as fresh as it gets. Just get yourself the right yeast and get started. Go.


Roasted eggplant, tomato and feta on my pizza

Homemade pizza dough / Tomato and cheese pizza / Roasted eggplant and feta pizza

What you need

Basic pizza dough
(Makes 3 pizzas)

3 cups maida / flour
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast or 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (I use gloripan or eagle instant yeast)
1 cup water + 2 tbsps
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil + 1 tsp more for greasing

Topping
Tomato basil sauce
mozzarella
1 large eggplant
2 large tomatoes
a few basil leaves
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

What you do with it -

Warm the water, it should not be too hot or lukewarm.
Pour the water in a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it, along with the sugar. If using the active dried yeast, the water should froth up within 5 mins or so
Add the flour to it, along with the salt and knead it well
It will be slightly sticky, add the olive oil to the dough and a little on your fingers and knead well. (Its ok if its still a little sticky)
Grease a bowl with some olive oil and then place this ball of dough in it
Cover with a moist thin cloth or cling wrap and keep it in a warm place
It should take about 1 hour to rise and double in size. It might take longer if its not too warm
Once its risen, punch it down and then divide into three balls
Line a baking tray with greased baking paper or cornmeal
Pre heat the oven at about 200 C
On a floured surface, roll out the dough using a rolling pin or simply stretch it with your hands to get the shape you want. (It doesn't have to be round)
Sprinkle a little olive oil over the dough and then add the tomato-basil sauce
Top it with cheese (mozzarella) and bake it for about 15 mins till the crust turns slightly brown and the cheese is all melted

For the roasted eggplant pizza,
Cut the eggplant into slices that are not too thick or thin
Pan fry or roast in an oven with a little olive oil
Cut the tomato into thick slices
Crumble the feta cheese
Roll out the dough slightly thin and then smear some olive oil over it
Add the tomato-basil sauce and then place the roasted eggplant slices, top it with the tomato slice and sprinkle the crumbled feta cheese some basil leaves over it
Sprinkle a little mozzarella also and bake at 200 C (or slightly lower, depending on your oven) for 12 - 15 mins
To spice it up a bit, I added a dash of piri-piri sauce over it

Thai Green Curry with Pineapple Basil Rice

Thai is one of my favourite cuisines, mainly because of the beautiful balance of flavours, spice, sweet, sour and coconut milk...
Back in Bangalore, we had quite a few restaurants serving really awesome Thai food, but here, I have had it at two places where they had added besan / chickpea flour for thickening the dish - it was a disaster. I prefer my home cooked Thai food now !
This may not be considered authentic enough, because it doesn't have galangal or kaffir lime leaves, but if you crave Thai curry and you don't have access to these ingredients, this is as good as the real deal...



A nice, flavourful Thai green curry can easily be made with these ingredients which are quite common in any Indian kitchen.

Thai Green Curry with Pineapple basil rice

Recipe Source
For the curry - Adapted from Neeta Mehta's Thai Vegetarian Cooking
For the rice - A good friend in Bangalore

What you need -

3-4 small eggplants
1 large red pepper / capsicum
(You can also use mushrooms, green peppers and yellow peppers)
1.5 cups thick coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp oil
3-4 stalks of lemon grass

For the curry paste:
1/2 onion chopped
5-6 green chillies
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1/2 piece ginger / galangal (if you find it)
1 tbsp lemon juice
rind of 1 lemon
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 cup fresh basil leaves / 1/2 cup coriander leaves
(I used 1/2 cup coriander leaves and 1/2 cup basil leaves)

Pineapple Basil Rice -

1.5 cups basmati rice
2-3 slices of pineapple (canned or fresh)
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 leaves fresh basil

What you do with it -

For the curry paste :
Roast the cumin and coriander seeds till fragrant
Add all the ingredients listed under 'curry paste' and grind to a fine paste using a little water

For the rice :
Clean the rice and soak in water for 10 mins
Cut the pineapple slices into bite size pieces
Tear the basil leaves
Chop the garlic into thin slices
In a large pot, add 3 cups of water and bring to boil, add the rice, garlic, basil, pineapple and salt and cook till done
Add a drop or two of sesame oil, so the rice doesn't get too sticky
You could also put all the ingredients with the water into a rice cooker and cook till done

For the curry :
Clean and chop the eggplants and the peppers and the mushrooms, if using
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large deep bottomed pan and add the curry paste and fry for 2-3 mins. Keep it on a low flame, or the paste might splatter
Add the vegetables and fry for another 3-4 mins
Break the lemon grass stalks into 2-3 pieces and add to the pan
Add the salt, sugar and soy sauce
Dilute the thick coconut milk with water and add to the pan
Allow to simmer till the vegetables are just cooked. Don't let the vegetables get too soft or mushy
Take out the lemon grass stalks from the curry before you serve

Serve hot with pineapple basil rice

Want some other Thai dishes ? Check here, here and here

Stuffed Eggplant

I discovered Purple Foodie's blog a couple of months back..I love the way she comes up with one interesting dish after another...Though I never venture too much into the desserts area, which I think she does complete justice to, I did try out her crispy apple crumble and it turned out awesome...
The cake from my previous post is also from her blog..

The day I saw this Stuffed Eggplant Goodness on her blog, I had decided I must try it out..Bookmarked it and then completely forgot about it...



In the market, I saw this beautiful eggplant (bharte wala baingan) and picked it up with the bharta on my mind. Chopped the onions and tomatoes for it and then remembered Purple foodie's eggplant, went back to my bookmarks, saw that the ingredient list, at least most of it, was available in my kitchen and went ahead to vegetarianise her recipe. I did not have parmesan cheese, but had 2 cheese slices...



This halved, loaded eggplant looked like a complete meal to me, but I was sure TH would ask me 'This is dinner ?', so I quickly spiced up some leftover rice with olives, red chilli flakes, garlic and shallots. Served the eggplant on the bed of rice - was a pretty picture and tasted good too
Thank you Shaheen, for a brilliant dinner...

Here's the link to the original recipe and here's my tweaked vegetarian version...

What you need -

1 large eggplant
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
1 bayleaf
3-4 cloves garlic
1-2 tomatoes
1/2 cup crumbled paneer
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp mixed herbs
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
salt and crushed pepper

What you do with it -

Slit the eggplant lengthwise
Pre-heat oven to 200 C
Grease the baking dish with some olive oil and then place the eggplant, cut side up
Sprinkle oil over the eggplant with a chopped clove of garlic and some oregano
Bake for about 25 mins, or till tender
Scoop out the flesh from the eggplant and mash it up gently with a fork
In a pan, heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat
Add the onions, chopped garlic, bayleaf, oregano and red chilli flakes
Then the tomatoes, salt, pepper and mixed herbs. Once its a little mushy, add the crumbled paneer and the eggplant flesh
Remove the bayleaf
Lower the oven temperature to 190 C
When the mixture cools a bit, fill it back into the eggplant shells (Shaheen uses egg here, which would give it a nice binding, but I didnt have any at home, so skipped that)
Return the shells to the baking dish. Sprinkle with olive oil
Bake the eggplant for 30-40 minutes or until the shells are tender when pierced with a skewer
During the last 10 minutes of baking, add bits of the cheese slices onto the eggplant and bake till done. You could use a lot more cheese here, I had run out of cheese !

Bharli Vangi

I just didnt find the right brinjals for the bharli vangi - you need the round small brinjals that can be stuffed, I had the long purple ones instead, so since i couldn't stuff them, I made the gravy with the same masala.

An aunt of mine who was visiting us once, taught me this one and its been a favourite ever since.
I have adapted her recipe to make this absolutely yummy dish
This goes really well with bhakris or rotis



What you need -

1/2 kg brinjals
1/2 kopra (dry coconut) dessicated
2 onions chopped
3 cloves
1 stick dalchini
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp jaggery
1/2 cup coriander leaves chopped
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
salt to taste

What you do with it -

Chop the brinjals lengthwise into about 2 inch pieces and then into four quarters
Heat oil in a pan and add cloves and dalchini
Add onions and the dessicated coconut and fry till onions turn golden brown
Remove half of this and grind to a paste
Add the brinjals and fry for 3-4 mins
Add garam masala and jaggery
Add the ground onions and coconut back to the pan
Make a coarse powder with the roasted peanuts
Add this and then add half of the coriander leaves
Add a little water and salt and allow to cook till it becomes a little soft
Garnish with the remaining coriander leaves

If you have the round brinjals, then make deep slits in the shape of a 'X' on the round side of the brinjal
Stuff half the masala into the brinjals, toss in oil for a little while and then drop the brinjals in the masala and cook till it done