What I Want Now: Raw Vegan Pesto Pizza On A Sprouted Lentil Crust

Doesn't this look gorgeous?! Photo and recipe courtesy of Joanne from Foods for Long Life.

Potato Rosemary Pizza

Potato on pizza sounds like a complete abomination, but if it's good enough for David Rocco, then it's good enough for me. I find the crust of store-bought pizza breads too thick, so for this one, I just cut it horizontally in half to make two thin pizza bases.

Potato Rosemary Pizza

• 1 pizza crust
• 1 potato
• 2 tablespoons of tomato puree/pizza sauce
• Handful of rosemary
• Teaspoon of garlic powder

To make:

• Spread the tomato puree on top of the pizza crust.
• Thinly slice the potato into horizontal discs.
• Arrange in overlapping circles on the pizza crust.
• Sprinkle some garlic powder and fresh rosemary leaves.
• Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.
  
  
  
   

Vegan Pizza Margherita

David Rocco's Dolce Vita is a new find for me. I loved the episode on pizzas. I just wonder when I will find a guy who feeds me freshly made pizzas?!

So, when I saw there was fresh basil available at Nature's Basket, thats when I decided to buy a couple of ready-made pizza bread from there as well. I don't have a really good  oven - everything takes at least twice as long to bake as is prescribed in a recipe, despite the fact that the oven is at its highest setting. David Rocco baked his pizzas in a wood burning oven for 10 minutes. If you're lucky to have one, bake it for 10 minutes. Else, just go with your gut. I baked mine for approximately 45 minutes at 250 degrees celcius.

I've used silken tofu - the softest variety you can get. Mush it up with your fingers to get a cottage cheese like texture. The tofu  - or any manner of vegan cheese - isn't going to melt and go all gooey like cheese. No one said being vegan was without its sacrifices. :)

Vegan Pizza Margherita
Ingredients

• 1 tomato
• Handful of silken tofu
• 4-5 fresh basil leaves
• 1 pizza crust
• Tablespoon of olive oil
• Salt, per taste

To make:

• Pre-heat the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes so its nice and hot.
• Slice the tomato finely and lay over the pizza crust.
• Spread the tofu on top.
• Season with salt.
• Lay the basil leaves on top.
• Top off with olive oil.
• Bake until slightly brown on top.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Eggplant and Tahini Pizza on Indian Naan Bread

As discussed, here's my version of an eggplant and tahini pizza made atop a day-old Indian naan bread.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a naan bread
• 1 medium sized baby eggplant/aubergine, sliced into thin discs
• Handful of veggies - peppers, cabbage, spinach etc
• 1 table spoon of Tahini paste
• teaspoon of olive oil
• Pinch of dry basil

To make:
On a sliver of the naan bread, spread the tahini paste all over.

Then, lay some green leafy vegetables, then the peppers and cabbage on top.

Lay the eggplant discs on top.

Drizzle a little olive oil on top along with the basil.

Bake in an oven at 250 degrees celcius for 15-20 minutes.

Servings: 1 sliver of pizza - But be warned that the tahini makes this quite a filling snack/lunch.

Verdict: To be honest, I preferred the earlier pizza I'd made. The eggplant gave it quite a bitter aftertaste. Plus, it wasnt the most portable of lunches -The eggplant discs kept slipping out. Next time, I'll make Baba Ghanoush (simply put, its just tahini mixed with eggplant. Blend it all up to make a paste). And then lay the veggies on top of the Baba Ghanoush paste. 

Indian Veggie Pizza....on Naan

I had a garlic naan left over from yesterday afternoon's lunch. So, inspired by this recipe, I decided to have a slice of Indian-style pizza and make it a healthier version of the original recipe. Plus, I get to use up some of my damn vegetables (Such a mistake buying so much, but hate having it go to waste!).

To make, you'll need a half or quarter of a naan (depending on the size of the naan bread). Basically, each serving of your pizza will be one sliver of the naan - If you have a big round naan, cut it into quarters, and so on.

Mine was a day old, which was just fine with me.

On this, I used a base of green chutney - which is similar to pesto, except its made of coriander, green chillis, coconut flesh, and some herbs. I didnt make a fresh batch, it just happened to be lying in my refrigerator made by my mom. Here's a nice recipe for green Indian chutney. You could use pesto.

PS: In the original recipe, the breads look more like tandoori rotis, not naans. I'm Indian. I would know.

Veggie Pizza on Naan Bread

Ingredients:

• 1/2 naan
• Table spoon of green chutney/pesto
• Some thinly chopped veggies - I used green and yellow peppers, red cabbage, and some greens
• 5-10 black olives
• Dash of olive oil
• Teaspoon of roasted sunflower seeds
• Dried basil, as per taste

To make:
On a sliver of the naan bread, spread the green chutney all over.

Then, lay some green leafy vegetables, then the peppers and cabbage on top. Then the olives. Splash on some olive oil and a dash of dry basil.

Finally the sunflower seeds for crunch.

Bake in the oven at around 250 degrees celcius for around 15-20 minutes.

You can either have it as a pizza or roll it over and have it as a wrap. And yes, I'll admit, its not really a pizza - seeing as there was no cheese (or vegan substitute for cheese) or tomatoes.

I have to say, I really, really enjoyed eating this one. I still have a quarter of a naan left over, which I will use for another pizza - This one with Tahini paste as the base (should go well with the garlic in the naan), and sliced eggplants and some veggies for lunch. Mmmm. Can't wait!!