Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza!

One night while Piyush and I were touring around India, we decided not to go out for dinner. We were so tired, we turned on the tv and ordered room service. Because we were staying at a pretty expensive hotel…the food was also expensive.

Piyush couldn’t stand the idea that we were going to pay 3 times the amount for a meal that would cost us only a few rupees a couple blocks away. I understood what he was saying, but I didn’t want to leave the hotel again–and be forced to cross the road.

You see, crossing roads in India is scary!  There aren’t any cross-walks, and traffic doesn’t stop.  Piyush could easily handle it, but it made me crazy!  So crazy, in fact,  that I possibly had a mini tantrum, acted like I was 7 years old, and convinced Piyush to order room-service.  Possibly.

Watch this video, you’ll see.  It gives me a panic attack just seeing it!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRnx03QPIzg]

To make up for my childish behavior, I told Piyush we could order the cheapest thing on the menu.  Imagine my excitement when that turned out to be pizza!

I mean, I love pizza.  I love curry.  What could be better than eating them both at the same time (haha I’m such a glutton!)?

Piyush didn’t want pizza and didn’t think it would taste any good, but I couldn’t resist: Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza.  It sounded amazing!  …And it was!  After eating a few slices, even Piyush said it was genius!

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find anything remotely close to that delicious pizza here in the United States.  Sure, you can order a chicken curry pizza once in awhile—but I haven’t tasted one I liked.

Since I made chicken tikka masala a few days ago, I decided to use the left-overs and attempt to replicate the pizza I had in India.  …and let me tell you, it was a success!

Just seeing pictures of it make my mouth water!  This pizza was incredible!!!  I wish there was some contest or something I could enter it into, cuz I’m tellin’ you…It would win!

This pizza could also be made vegetarian—simply do not include the chicken.  A paneer tikka masala pizza would be equally amazing!

The crust is my basic whole wheat pizza crust recipe (you can find it HERE).  The only changes I made were to replace the oil with ghee, I added 2 tbsp. fresh chopped garlic and a bunch of chopped coriander (cilantro).

Once it raised, I split the dough in half and tossed 1/2 in the freezer to use some other time.  I rolled the remaining dough really thin (this dough is really stretchy and will make a pretty giant pizza!).  Be sure to poke holes in the dough with a fork before baking–or else it puffs up.

I pre-baked the crust at 450 degrees F for about 5 minutes, took it out of the oven and smothered the top with left-over chicken tikka masala (recipe HERE).  If you don’t make your own chicken tikka masala, you could use store bought (they sell it in jars), I suppose.

It would be delicious, I’m sure; but it won’t taste even remotely close to this version.  Unfortunately.

I then added thinly sliced green and red bell peppers and some thin caramelized white onions.  I also cut up some chunks of paneer (an Indian cheese) and tossed those on top too.

I thought the pizza needed some sort of cheese–what’s pizza without cheese?!– but  mozzarella or any other kind of shredded cheese sounded kind of gross and I figured it would throw off the flavor.  You could add it if you wanted, but I’m glad I didn’t.

I baked the pizza on a pizza stone in a 450 degree F oven until the paneer started to turn brown on the edges.  I can’t remember exactly how long this took–sorry!  I was gabbing away on the phone while it cooked.

Because I had made the chicken tikka masala extra spicy, I thought it needed some sweetness to balance everything out. I drizzled some mango chutney over the finished pizza and garnished with with a handful of raisins and cashew-nuts that I cooked in a little ghee.

The flavor of this pizza is incredible!  You take a bite and initially taste the sweet mango chutney; but soon after, the spiciness of the chicken tikka masala begins to take over.  It’s just a perfect balance of spicy and sweet!

The only problem with this pizza is that you’ll want more!  Piyush stuffed 5 slices in his mouth before he even realized how much he had actually eaten!

I’d call that success!

This pizza would be perfect served at a dinner party.  In fact, I’m planning one based around it right now!

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