We spend a fortune on exotic pizzas at restaurants. But if we prep them ourselves, it will be a healthier one, at a much lower cost, and you wouldn’t need to be a pro. Here’s how…
I find it very hard to stop myself from binging on pizzas and I have had some of the best and the worst that Mumbai can offer its gourmands. But one thing I have realised that it is quite pointless spending a bomb on some exotic pizza at a fancy restaurant if you can make a healthier one at home at a much lower cost. And it makes much more sense to do it if you happen to be a pizza-holic like me.
Generally, on weekends I go out and eat and for all the meals in those two days, I turn up at one or the other restaurant dotting Colaba, which is where I stay, and areas surrounding it like Kala Ghoda, Fort, Cuffe Parade and Marine Drive. But last weekend I was at my dear friend, Meenakshi’s house and we decided to bake some fresh pizzas. She is another foodie at heart and also a good cook. We would have loved to make the dough at home but we had little time on hand and so we skipped some thin crust pizza bases from a bakery in her locality. I have always wondered if it would be sensible to replace the white flour dough with a whole wheat or a multigrain one. If I come up with a convincing answer, you will find it here.
One mistake that I have usually seen people committing while preparing to bake a pizza is not paying much attention to the base sauce, which forms the basis for the overall flavour to develop. Instead of going for the bottled ones, try to make it fresh at home and you will avoid any harmful preservatives and unnecessary vinegar from entering your body. For the base sauce, we decided to go for tomato and basil, and for toppings, we included some mushrooms, capsicum, onions, baby corn and green olives. The mozzarella pizza cheese was a usual pick and we kept the seasoning simple, adding just a hint of oregano. We were happily satiated with the end result and could taste the goodness of vegetables and cheese, and keeping the flavours uncluttered was indeed a good idea.
Preparation:
1. Base sauce: Heat a teaspoon of olive oil in a pan and saute the finely chopped tomatoes. Add fresh basil leaves and a pinch of salt and pepper when the tomatoes turn soft and mix well.
2. Chop some veggies for topping.
3. Dab the pizza base with some olive oil or butter and spread the freshly made tomato sauce on it.
4. Grate just a little bit of mozzarella cheese, covering the entire area of the base (including the ends) and nicely place the toppings on it.
5. Add a pinch of oregano (and just a bit of salt if the oregano you are using doesn’t have) and grate more cheese over it, as per your taste.
6. If you are using a microwave, then put it for around 3 to 5 minutes and if you are using an OTG, then you need to put it for roughly 10 to 15 minutes and keep a watch.
7. Sprinkle some oregano and devour!
