The birth of a cauliflower-crust pizza

This is the story of the birth of a cauliflower-crust pizza. My wife Nazneen and I had chosen to close the chapter on our well-established lives for the last twenty-plus years working at a residential school in Landour, Mussoorie, and move to Pune to help with the care of an elderly parent. The lockdown hit us just three months before our contracts expired. It wasn’t safe to have domestic help who came and went daily with an elderly person in the house. Both of us were also facing health challenges that we had been putting off dealing with. We suddenly realized we had the time and opportunity to try new things - experiment with new dishes, learn new skills like preparing jowar (sorghum) bhakries (flatbreads) and also new healthier ways of preparing some of our favourite dishes, substituting unhealthy ingredients with healthy ones.

And that’s what led me to experiment with cauliflower-crust pizza. Pizza has always been a favourite dish with all three of us. It always involved refined flour which we knew was unhealthy, but we were too hooked to look the other way. The lockdown precipitated our decision to stop eating refined flour. So this was the healthy version we had been waiting for! We did look up some basic recipes on YouTube and finally formulated one of our own. The topping was our own tried and trusted recipe

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

(makes 2 X 7.5-inch diameter pizzas)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups grated or blenderized cauliflower florets without stalks
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup hard cheese (like Amul)
• 2 mixing bowls
• Egg whisk
• Cutting board
• Kitchen knives
• Frying pan
• Microwave (optional)
• Oven
• Parchment paper
• 8-9 in dekchi lid

Topping

• 1 carton tomato puree
• 2 medium onions
• 5-10 cloves garlic
• 1 large capsicum
• ½ large bell pepper (both red and yellow)
• 3-4 medium tomatoes
• Green chillies/ jalapeno peppers to taste
• Salt to taste
• 2 tsp Olive oil (for cooking)
• Chicken ham/ paneer or any other topping of your choice
• 1 cup grated cheese of your choice

Preparing your crust

1. Choose one large or two medium cauliflowers. Separate stalks from florets. Save stalks for soup.
2. Use a hand grater to grate or pulse florets in a blender. Measure out two cups.
3. Either dry out in a non-stick frying pan on low to medium heat, stirring every 30 secs for about 8-10 mins until colour begins to deepen slightly. Do not allow to burn. OPTIONAL microwave for 6 mins in mixing bowl, then dry out in a frying pan for 3-5 mins.
4. Grate 1 cup of hard cheese
5. Beat two eggs in another mixing bowl, add cheese and mix well with a whisk.
6. Add cauliflower and mix well with a whisk. Divide batter into two.
7. Cut parchment paper to the shape of a dekchi lid and place it on the dekchi lid. Pour one portion of the batter onto the parchment paper and smooth into a circle with your fingers approx ¼ in thick. Build up edges higher with fingers and thumb to avoid edges becoming burnt.
8. Bake at 200 ℃ for 20 mins. Take out and allow to cool before adding the topping.

Preparing your topping

1. Grate 1 cup cheese. Divide into 2
2. Dice or slice onion, garlic, tomatoes, capsicum, bell peppers
3. Lightly fry onions in one tsp olive oil on medium heat, and put aside half. Add capsicum, bell peppers and tomatoes and stir fry. Keep the mixture aside. Divide into two.
4. Lightly fry the garlic in one tsp olive oil on medium heat, add onion, heat, add tomato puree, stir and allow to bubble for 2-3 mins until it begins to thicken. Add salt to taste. Turn off heat. Divide sauce into two.
5. Pour one portion of the sauce on each pizza crust, and lightly spread with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle one portion of onion and capsicum mixture on top of the sauce on each pizza. Sprinkle one portion of grated cheese on top of each pizza. Finally decorate with toppings of your choice on top.
6. Bake at 200 ℃ for 10 mins. Remove, cut into slices and serve hot!