Tandoori Chicken Pizza

I remember the first time I saw A Cook's Tour and my initial reaction was "What kind of a cooking show is this??" Then I saw No Reservations and I was hooked to it. It's a raw, and honest no sugar-coating approach. One of my favourite episode was when Anthony Bourdain visited Saudhi Arabia. His respect to the cultures and the beliefs. How many of you foodies watched it. I also loved watching The Taste.
Anyway, back to my recipe for the day, Tandoori Chicken Pizza.  I love tandoori chicken and so do the boys. I had some leftover tandoori chicken and wanted to make my own tandoori chicken pizza. I didn't want to use tomato paste or the regular tomato sauce. So decided I would make the masala sauce that's used to make chicken tikka masala recipe.
It turned out quite well. I  still can't get my pizza base to taste like the one I had in Salamiya restaurant in Kandy, Sri Lanka. I decided to add the extra raw onion slices and coriander like they do for some pizza where they throw some rocket leaves on top once its done.

Recipe : Tandoori Chicken Pizza

Pizza dough
Tandoori chicken meat, shredded
1 green capsicum or banana peppers ( sliced) or 1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
a mix of cheese mozzarella, and mild cheddar

a few sliced onions

fresh coriander leaves only

Sauce : 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
            1/4 tsp grated ginger
            1 small onion, or 1/4 of a regular onion, chopped
            2 level tsp ground coriander
            1 tsp garam masala, shop-bought or homemade
            1/2 tsp red chilli powder
            1/4 tsp ground black pepper
            1-2 green chilli , cut in half
            1 (400g) can peeled tomato
            salt
            handful of coriander leaves, chopped
            1/4 cup milk or cream ( if available)
            1-2 tsp sugar
 2 tbsp olive oil

pepper and chilli flakes 

Prepare the sauce first. (It is quite a lot so you can use what you need and store in the fridge for a week or two or  pour it into a freezer container and freeze it in batches.)

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and saute' till it softens and goes translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and the chilli and stir fry for 1 minute.
Stir in the ground spices, sugar and the tomatoes.  Add water into the tomato can till it comes to half the can swirl it around and pour it into the pan. Stir. Bring to the boil and then simmer covered till the sauce thickens. Stir in the milk or cream and the chopped coriander.  Taste, add salt to taste.  Simmer for another minute or two and then switch off.  Cool and blend the mixture to make a smoother sauce. ( this is an optional step, but a good one to do if you have picky eaters)

Now preheat the oven to about 250 degrees C. Place the baking sheet or pizza pan in the oven to warm.

Take a piece of foil the same size as the pan, and rub a little olive oil on the foil. Roll and stretch the pizza dough on the foil.

Spoon and spread a little masala sauce on the pizza dough. Sprinkle the cheese, then the shredded chicken and capsicum or bell peppers. If you like mushrooms you can add some slices of fresh mushrooms as well.

Sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper and chilli flakes on top and a drizzle of olive oil.

Take the hot pizza pan from the oven, and very carefully lift the foil and place it carefully in the pizza pan and pop it into the oven.

Bake for about 10-20 minutes till dough is cooked and golden and the cheese is bubbling. Remove, cool and sprinkle some thinly sliced onion rings and fresh coriander leaves.