Baked Beans Pizza

I remember a time when Pizza wasn’t so common and easily available in the city I grew up in.  Shocking,  hey?  There were very few places, let alone Halaal places,  that served pizzas on their menu, and when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was the most popular TV show on KTV, pizza was THE food to eat.   So my mother, bless her, improvised and concocted her own version of a pizza.  Now my childhood friend Farzana and I had a private joke. Everytime our mums ran out of school lunch ideas, we got a Koo baked beans sandwich – the best that mum could do.   (Honestly, I didn’t mind, not being much of a meat eater myself.)  Anyway, our school was a typical “House of Delegates” aka “Indian” primary school, and a lot of my classmates were Hindu and didn’t eat meat either.  So for our year-end party in Std 2, Grade 4, my mum came up with a vegetarian pizza.  It was the hugest, yummiest, tray pizza topped with baked beans and mushrooms.  It was such a hit, that every year after that, my sister and I had to supply the pizza for our year-end parties.  The base is not real yeast dough, but more a scone-ish type dough, so this is very quick to make.  You could top it with whatever you prefer.

BAKED BEANS PIZZA

Pizza base, recipe below

Pizza sauce, recipe below

Baked Beans, recipe below

1/2 punnet button mushrooms, sliced

1/2  onion, sliced

2 cups grated cheese, mozzarella or cheddar

Dried oregano

Cover base lightly with sauce.  Spread baked beans over, then top with mushrooms, onion and cheese.  Bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes.   Test center to check if it is done.  Cut into squares and serve.

Pizza Sauce

1 can tomato and onion mix, All Gold
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chilli powder
1 green pepper, cubed
1 TB oil

Saute garlic and pepper on medium heat for a few minutes.

Add canned tomato and spices, cook  till dry.

Baked Beans Topping

1/2 onion
1 green chilli – whole
1 small tomato, chopped

1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tin baked beans

salt to taste

1 Tbsp Oil

Saute onion in oil. Add tomato and chill, cook till dry.  Add chilli powder, salt and baked beans and cook for

a few minutes till beans are warmed through.

Pizza Base

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
60 G butter
5 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/4 cup yoghurt
1/2 cup milk

Sift flour and baking powder together.

Rub in butter so that the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Beat the egg, yoghurt and milk together.

Mix with flour to form soft, not sticky dough.

Roll out to fit into large oven tray.

Cheesy Corn Poppers

One of my favorite cities to visit is Mumbai – there’s such a lot to eat! For the chilli and spice loving foodie, Mumbai is possibly Nirvana, if you’re adventurous enough that is.  While I thoroughly recommend high tea at the Sea Lounge, Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, I also recommend the awesomest potato & cheese sandwich you’ll ever eat,  at the street cart  across the road from the famous Leopold Cafe in Colaba Causeway. Wash it down with a pomegranate juice, heavenly!   One of my favourite snacks is from a must-stop Cream Center on Linking Road. I’m not sure if they actually have a sign, but the pink,green and orange “Gelato Italiano” sign is hard to miss.  Almost everything on the menu is great – especially the sizzling brownie! But my most favourite item on their menu is Corn Balls. Yes it’s an odd name, you can stop laughing now. After much deliberation, cogitation and rumination (MasterChef) my cousins and I decided to rename it Cheesy Corn Poppers. So here’s the recipe. It does require a bit of effort, but totally worth it. You might want to go easy on the chilli if you are serving this to kids.

Cheesy Awesome Goodness

CHEESY CORN POPPERS

2 cups  frozen sweet corn, boiled
2 medium sized potatoes, boiled & mashed
1/2 block of cheddar cheese, cut in small cubes
4T cornflour
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
5-6 green chillis
3T chopped coriander
1T lemon juice
1tsp sugar
Salt to taste
1/2 cup cold milk
Bread crumbs

In a blending machine, grind chillis, coriander and lemon juice to make a paste. Add corn and grind again, so you have coarsely ground corn. Mix with everything but milk & bread crumbs. Roll into small balls – like a kebab. Chill for 10 minutes. Dip in milk, roll in bread crumbs. Chill some more. Take out of fridge 5 mins before frying. Fry on medium heat till golden brown.  Serve immediately. Really, because the cheese shouldn’t be cold.

And that’s wot2cook for now. I’ll balance it out with a healthy chicken salad later.