Backstory:

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve craved pizza this last month. Like literally, every single day. But there are times my bank account tells me, ‘Woman, control yourself’. There are also times I want to customise said pizza in different ways but every addition is Rs 50-60 more and I can never find the right balance of fresh, healthy pizza that’s also lip-smackingly good. HENCE, my flatmate Natasha (check out her amazing food blog here) and I decided that we wouldn’t let the lack of an oven come in our way and mad pizza at home on a stovetop. I am AMAZED with how good it came out and can’t wait to try it again. Original recipe from Ranveer Brar, you can find it here but we tweaked it a bit to make it more WHOLESOME (read: ultra taste max hoohooo)

You need: (Makes 3)

For the base:

• 3/4 cup maida (refined flour)
• 1/4 cup atta (wheat flour)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp yeast
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp water
• 1/2 tsp salt

For the topping:

• 5-6 mushrooms (slice into big-ish pieces)
• 1 onion (chop roughly)
• 8-10 cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
• 8-10 seedless olives
• 200 grams grated mozarella cheese
• 200 ml marinara sauce (ketchup also works)
• 4 seekh kababs, sliced (optional)

How to:

For the base:

1. Sift the maida & atta together so there are no lumps. In a bowl add the flour mix, sugar, yeast, olive oil, salt and mix together.
2. Keep adding water little by little and combine the flour until it forms into a ball
3. Ensure it’s *slightly* sticky & soft and not too dry & hard otherwise it will be super tough to roll it out
4. Cover with a cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes in a warm place (in this time the yeast will feed on the sugar and it will ferment and make the fluffiest dough everrr)

Now for the fun part:

1. While that’s resting, chop up all your veggies – mushroom, bell peppers, onions etc
2. In a pan, heat a little olive oil and add your mushrooms & bell peppers and stir fry. DO NOT cook your onions, they are much better raw.
3. Once slightly brown, set aside on a plate and then cook your sliced seekh kabab until golden brown (skip this step if you want a veggie pizza)
4. Now, roll out your pizza dough on a floured surface. Important to flour it or it will be get stuck and not come off. Roll into a size that fits into a cast iron or heavy-bottomed pan.
5. Poke holes into it with fork so it doesn’t puff up and get weird. We don’t want no Puff Daddy Pizza.
6. Heat your pan and gently place the pizza dough. I say gently because if it tears in between it’s a stupid mess and the fillings fall through
7. Cook dough on stovetop for about 5 minutes on medium heat. When you get a nice aroma, turn it over and cook for 3 more minutes so it’s not raw
8. Lower the heat and with a spoon add the marinara sauce/ketchup and spread it around so it covers the entire pizza
9. Add your mushrooms, bell peppers, sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped onions, seedless olives and top it all with grated mozarella cheese
10. Cover the pan with a lid for about 2 minutes, until the cheese melts
11. Gently take it out of the pan (again, you don’t want no accidents here) and place it on a ceramic/steel/wooden surface because it will be HOT and you don’t want that on a plastic surface
12. Top with some oregano or pizza mix seasoning (I know you have 100 dominoes oregano packets, just use that!)

Tips:

Things you can skip and swap for cheaper ingredients

Bell Peppers ———> Capsicum (Kashmiri mirch)

Marinara Sauce ————> Ketchup

Pizza seasoning ————> Dominoes Oregano powder

Olive oil ————> Vegetable oil

Seekh Kabab ————–> Sausages/chopped chicken

Mozarella Cheese —————-> Amul Cheese Slice (just cut it into smaller pieces)

Cherry tomatoes & olives ————> Lime (to get that sour, tangy flavour)