Vegan Pizza Pepporanata

Madhuram — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:05:24 +0000

Even though I love to bake and have had little success with cakes and cookies, I’m not good enough to create my own recipes. I’m simply a “recipe follower”. I can make some substitutions here and there, but that’s it. That’s why I prefer cooking and other non-risky oven tasks like baking pizzas etc. You can come up with different recipes and even though it does not turn out as expected, there is always something you can do to make it right.

I think some culinary Muse has laid her merciful eyes upon me, because I have had lot of success creating new recipes in my kitchen in the past one week. It started with this vegan pizza recipe. I got the idea for this pizza from my vegan pasta pepporanata recipe. I thought why not cook the peppers, top it over refrigerated pizza dough and bake it. I also got another idea to use the oven preheating time efficiently. I wanted to cook the peppers before topping it on the pizza. Instead of preheating an empty oven and cooking the peppers on stove top, I decided to roast the vegetables in the oven itself while it was preheating.

The idea worked very well. The peppers, onions and garlic cooked enough in the 15 minutes. It was also my first try with thin crust pizza dough and I loved it. The pizza slices were nice and crispy. The added bonus, my son loved the pepper masala very much. He was simply eating the peppers not letting me to top it on the pizza dough. I did not miss the cheese at all. You also don’t need to be a vegan to enjoy this vegan pizza.

Ingredients

Refrigerated pizza crust (I used Pillsbury Thin crust) 1 pack

Green Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Red Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Yellow Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Orange Pepper, medium size, thinly sliced 1

Onion, big, thinly sliced 1

Olive oil 1 to 1 and 1/2 tablespoon

Garlic cloves, minced or sliced 2-3

Salt as per taste

Black pepper powder as per taste

Red chilli flakes as per taste

Italian seasoning 1/2 to 1 tablespoon

Sugar 1/4 teaspoon

Yield: 8 rectangles

Procedure 1 Switch on the oven to 400F. In a large cookie sheet (use the one which you think will fit the pizza dough) add all the ingredients except the pizza dough. That is, the thinly sliced peppers, onion, garlic, oil and the seasonings. Mix it well and spread it on the baking sheet.

2 Cook it for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. I also broiled it for another 5 minutes, keeping the oven door open. Transfer the caramelized vegetables to a plate or wax paper.

3 Usually while baking the pizza dough you have to oil the baking sheet. Since we have roasted the vegetables already you can see that the baking sheet is already greased. So simply remove the dough from the can and unfold it on the cookie sheet. Spread it evenly to cover the cookie sheet. The dough may tear, but don’t worry, because you can always repair it using your fingers to stretch the dough and cover the holes.

4 Top the dough with the cooked pepper and onion mixture evenly.

5 Bake it for 12-16 minutes, until the bottom turns golden brown and the top is also baked enough.

6 I did not want to scratch my baking sheet while cutting the pizza, so removed it from the cookie sheet before cutting it.

My Notes 1 Since it is a thin crust dough the bottom starts becoming brown around 10-11 minutes itself but the top does not get cooked properly by then. After another 5 minutes the top also is baked enough. I took out mine after 16 minutes.

2 This pizza is slightly on the sweeter side because of the sweet peppers. I think that’s the reason my son liked it so much. So for the adult version you may want to spice it up with some extra black pepper powder and red chili flakes.

This vegan pizza is my entry for It’s a Vegan World:Italian started by Vaishali.

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Hominy Grits Instant Idli

Madhuram — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:51:38 +0000

Inspired by Priya’s Rava Idli and Cham’s Cracked Wheat Idli, I came up with this idea of using grits to make instant idlis. Yet another time grits has proved to be versatile. The idlis came out very well and especially it tasted so good with sambar for side dish.

IngredientsFor the batter:

Grits – 1 and 1/2 cups

Yogurt – 1 and 1/2 cups

Baking soda – 1/2 teaspoon

Carrots, grated – 2 medium size

Frozen peas – handful

Ginger, grated – 1 teaspoon

salt – as per taste

For tempering:

Oil – 1 tablespoon

Urad Daal – 1 teaspoon

Channa Daal – 1 teaspoon

Cashews, broken into small pieces – 10

Black pepper powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Hing – a pinch

Yield: 16 Idlis

Procedure1. Dry grind the grits in a blender to the consistency of regular rava/sooji.

2. Combine together all the ingredients listed for the batter. Add water if necessary to get the consistency of idli batter.

3. Heat oil in a frying pan and add the items to be tempered one by one and pour this in the batter and mix it well.

4. Grease the idli moulds (on both sides) using a non stick oil spray and fill with batter. I also grease the back because the batter from the lower plate does not stick to the top plate and you will be able to get full idlis.

5. Steam the idlis for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

My NotesI prepared the idlis 1 hour after preparing the batter. But I guess that it’s not necessary, because rava idlis can be prepared as soon as the batter is ready.

EgglessCooking.com | Eggless Recipes | Eggless Baking » black pepper

Vegan Pizza Pepporanata

Hominy Grits Instant Idli