Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Homemade Curry Pizza

As a child and into my teens, I had loved pizza. Going to Pizza Hut in Malaysia was always a treat, and not one that happened very often. When I came here, Wyld Man and I sometimes ordered pizza from Domino's and Pizza Hut, and sometimes we were fortunate enough to be at his mum's while she was making pizza and we'd get invited to stay for dinner. However, ordering takeaway pizza, with extra toppings like jalapeno peppers (Wyld Man introduced me to its delicious heat and I've never looked back) for two people can get expensive pretty quickly, even with coupons. Wyld Man and I figured out that for the $4 extra we pay to add jalapenos on both of our pizzas it was cheaper to buy a jar at the store and put in on ourselves. And then I took the next step. I started making my own for a lot less, and I get to put whatever I want on it, however much I want. And it tastes better too! So I've been making pizzas for at least 5 Saturdays now.

The other night the boys had a gamer's night and I made three pizzas to go around.I used a store-bought base, with canned herbed diced tomatoes, italian herb mix, and a secret ingredient. Curry powder. I had initially started with a basic tomato sauce base, but then there was one time that I was daring and thought I'd just throw some curry mix I had on hand on to the base. Wyld Man raved about it and now every pizza I make has curry in it.

This is what I used.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Ingredients"][/caption]

  • Cup Mushrooms

  • Diced canned tomatoes

  • Canned pinaepple pieces

  • Olives

  • Pickled hot peppers

  • Curry Powder

  • Italian herbs

  • Ham

  • Tabasco Sauce (I used Nzir chili sauce to substitute)

  • Grated cheddar and mozarella cheese and a store-bought pizza base


[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Ready made pizza base"][/caption]

I'm too lazy to roll dough-but I should. It's cheaper. And would probably taste better too, once I get the hang of it.

First step, the diced tomatoes goes on.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Ardmona Rich and Thick Chopped Tomatoes with Mixed Herbs"][/caption]

In a pinch, you can use any canned tomatoes. But nothing too watery though. Spread about 2 heaping tablespoons onto the base.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Tomato spread"][/caption]

I usually score the pizza base into 6 segments because cutting a baked pizza without a pizza cutter can get frustrating. Pre-scoring the base saves me some headache. Oops- need to preheat the oven first. 200 degrees Celsius.

Next comes the Italian Mixed Herbs. Give a very generous sprinkle.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Big dash of herbs"][/caption]

Then, the curry. I had this on hand.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Karachi Chicken Masala"][/caption]

Substitute with whatever curry spice you have on hand.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Be very, very generous."][/caption]

Sprinkle on some cheese at this point. When it melts, it will hold on to the toppings above. Otherwise, you'll find the toppings slipping off.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Slight sprinkle of cheese"][/caption]

If I had tabasco sauce, I would put in at this point. But I only had Nazir's.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Nazir's Chili Sauce"][/caption]

Slice some mushrooms..

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Sliced cup mushrooms"][/caption]

...and some ham...

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Sliced ham"][/caption]

...and sprinkle on the pizza...like this...

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Attack of the Giant Mushrooms"][/caption]

Next, some olives to fill in the gaps.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Getting there..."][/caption]

There are olives, and there are olives. I bought homebrand once, and they were completely tasteless. These are so much better.

And then comes the pineapple.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Golden Circle Pineapple pieces"][/caption]

Pizza is never complete without some hot stuff. I usually use jalapeno peppers, but ran out. So I used...

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Hoyts Hot Peppers"][/caption]

...instead. They are huge...

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Big bad peppers"][/caption]

..so we do the chop chop...

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Chopped wimpy peppers"][/caption]

Sprinkle randomly on pizza...

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Pizza coming along nicely"][/caption]

Big dollop of mozarella and cheddar...

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Cheese cheese"][/caption]

One last sprinkle of Italian herbs and curry powder...

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="And into the oven we go!"][/caption]

Lower oven temp to 180 degrees Celsius, set timer for 15 minutes. If you have a temperamental electric oven like me, and are using two trays at different levels, switch the trays after 15 minutes and leave for another 10 minutes.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="The perfect homemade junk food."][/caption]

Seriously yummy. Can't wait for Saturday!

2 comments:

  1. that's really amazing!! haha.. one day, when i have my own kitchen, i shall try out to make a pizza too!! How's the ready made pizza base? Can you choose the type of pizza base?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't know if can get ready made base in M'sia. If you can get them, it's really easy to make a pizza really quickly. You can make your own though-make a few at once and freeze for later.

    ReplyDelete

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