I love pizzas. All that melty cheese, flavourful toppings... mmmm! <3 I'm more of a deep pan girl rather than a thin crust one, but to each, his (or her) own, right? Of course, there are probably as many toppings as there are people. This particular one is my current favourite at the moment. It's adapted from the Best Ever Chicken Cookbook. I was very swayed by the awesomely tasty looking picture there. Plus, I had recently discovered that I really liked red peppers (thanks to this pasta recipe) so I was quite keen to try this. I cancelled out the shiitake mushrooms and fresh coriander that it called for though, since I'm not quite a fan of those. Anyway, here we go!
What you need:
2 tablespoons oil
200g chicken breast fillets, cut into cubes
3 spring onions, sliced
1 fresh red chilli, chopped finely
1 red pepper (capsicum), seeds removed and cut into thin strips
1 small pizza base (about 10 inches diameter)
1 tablespoon chilli oil (I just mixed in 1 teaspoon of chilli powder in 1 tablespoon of oil =P)
Cheese, and lots of it!
What you do:
- Preheat the oven to 190 C.
- Heat the oil in a wok. Add in the chicken cubes and all the vegetables and stir fry over a high heat for 2-3 minutes until the chicken is firm but still slightly pink within. Season well. Pour off any excess oil and set aside to cool.
- Brush the pizza base with the chilli oil. Spoon over the chicken mixture and spread evenly over the base.
- Sprinkle grated cheese over the topping. (I like to use pizza cheese which has a mix of Cheddar, Mozzarella and Parmesan. Yum!) Bake for 15-20 minutes until crisp and golden. Serve immediately.
Wow! Just look at those vibrant colours, would you? Fresh red pepper, delicious golden cheese... splashes of green spring onion, here and there.... just beautiful! If I had fresh basil handy, I would happily throw it in as well. But my basil plant died a very sad death, so oh well... here I am, basil-less. So never mind basil...
This can be, of course, as spicy as you like it. Red peppers are barely spicy, and I used one of those large red chillies that you can barely feel the heat of... so mine was only mildly spicy, mainly because of the chilli powder I seasoned the chicken with and the chilli oil brushed on the pizza base. Don't forget the chilli oil. I didn't add it one time, and for some reason... the pizza was lacking a little something. So go for the oil. =)
But of course, if you want it to be super spicy, go crazy with the chilli powder and feel free to use a spicier type of fresh chilli. They're all good. I had a pizza using a scotch bonnet with Hamizah once. Didn't dare eat the pieces at all, yet the pizza was super spicy. It all depends on what you use.
Anyway, the reception to this particular combination of pizza topping was good, very good. One of my sisters eats only honey garlic chicken a la Pizza Hut almost exclusively, but the rest of them liked it well enough. Babah and I particularly loved it. Unfortunately, the second time round I made it, I forgot about the chilli oil, making everything a bit bland, so that was a bit of an anti-climax. But never mind, I'll remember next time. =)
The only thing I didn't quite like about it was the pizza base. Oh, it was acceptable - we used the pre-made ones you can get from Supasave. It's kind of cool that they sell the bigger ones now though. But although its "acceptable" bread, I just *adore* Pizza Hut's pizza base. So flavoursome, so fluffy... I know. They're a pizza chain, it's what they do. Plus, I've never been very successful at making bread. I once came across a recipe that claims to almost replicate Pizza Hut's fluffy crust, as it used two types of leavening agents - yeast AND baking powder... I never got to try it, no idea if I even have a copy of it still. It's just too troublesome to make your own, especially if you don't know if it will be a success or not. Ah well. I shall stick with Supasave's pizza base, I guess...
On another note, this topping would incidentally make a very delicious sandwich filling. Try it!
Quote of the day: My favorite time of day is to get up and eat leftovers from dinner, especially spicy food.
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