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Photo: S. Subramanium

A different flavour South Indian pizza prepared by chef Rakesh Kumar

The pizza invasion happened in the early eighties and since then the craze for this Italian dish has spread from the metros to even the smaller towns.

A major reason for its popularityis that it is easy to cook, wholesome and ‘different’ from other ‘table meals.’

But everything as a package has its share of the good and the bad.

So does the pizza. Oflate, it has been labelled fast food, junk food, couch potato food and so on.

But the pizza has become so integral to our food culture, particularly in the metros, that one cannot erase its existence or ignore its presence.

That made me thinkas to what can be done so that the pizza would be accepted as a healthy food again. I realised that all I need to do is to substitute a few things which is giving the pizza the fast, junk or fattening food tag.

That’s how the idea of a South Indian pizza originated.

Fine flour is not really the most preferred ingredient any more. Instead, people are opting for wholesome ingredients which have nutrients and fibre.

So, I removed the fine flour base from the pizza and replaced it with rice and lentil flour which is nothing but the dough for South Indian uthappam.

Then, I experimented with the topping by adding the famous South Indian spices instead of oregano and other regular ingredients.

That gave it an Indian touch. Also, the coconut finds its place here.

Mozzarella cheese remains as I agree it is hard to replace it with any other cheese.

So after all that experimentation what comes out is a nutritious pizza suitable to Indian taste buds.

1 large cup uthappam dough

2 tbsp oil

1/2 cup diced cottage cheese

1/4 cup diced capsicum

1/4 cup diced mushroom

1 tbsp sambar powder

1/4 cup tomato chutney

1 tbsp dry red chilly flakes

1 tbsp shredded curry leaves

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

100 gm mozzarella cheese

Take a large non-stick frying pan and heat it on fire.

Once heated , add oil and then spread the uthappam mixture on it.

Make the spread slightly thicker than when done for the regular uthappam .

Cook on slow heat to ensure it is properly cooked and has minimum moisture. Take a pan, add a spoon of oil and sauté mushroom, capsicum and cottage cheese in it.

Add the sambar powder, the desiccated coconut, chopped curry leaves and cook till the juiceof the vegetables dry up.

Place the uthappam on a pizza tray. Spread a generous layer of tomato chutney on it.

Top it up with the cooked mixture of vegetables and paneer and spread it on the uthappam.

Give it a dash of chilly flakes.

Spread a layer of mozzarella cheese and bake in the oven at medium heat.

Once the cheese on top starts sizzling, remove it from the oven and serve hot.

By changing all or some vegetables to chicken, another variant of pizza can be made.

(The author is the Executive Chef, Crowne Plaza, and can be reached at chefrk@crowneplazadelhi.com)

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