Watermelon Pizza

This watermelon pizza recipe will help you savour every last warm weather moment before Fall/Winter truly kicks in!

The beauty of this kid friendly dessert/snack is that there is no cooking involved and it's fully customizable based on your taste preferences. I've given my suggestions below, but feel free to try this with your favorite fruits as toppings.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Serving: 4

Ingredients:

• 4 round slices of watermelon
• 1/2 cup strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 cup blackberries
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup pomegranate kernels
• 1/2 cup orange seedless, sliced
• 1/2 cup peach, shredded
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, coarse ground
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped mint
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
• salt to taste for seasoning

Directions:

1. Cut 4 pieces of watermelon, (about 1 inch thick), which will be the base of your "pizza"
2. Slice the strawberries, oranges, and shred the peach
3. Open the pomegranate and take out the kernels
4. On a large piece of a watermelon, place the slices of fruits on it, also put the berries and pomegranate kernels
5. On the top put shredded peach, basil and mint leaves
6. Season with salt and black pepper to your taste 
7. Use a pizza slicer to cut triangles out of the watermelon and create pizza slices

Notes:

You can also add grated white chocolate or coconut on top using your choice of fruits. You can also sprinkle the with fruit chaat masala if you like.

    

Whole Wheat Jain Pizza

This is a special Jain recipe as there is no yeast, no rennet, or any cultures. I made this pizza completely from scratch --- pizza base to the sauce to the cheese.

I learned the cheese recipe from a Jain fast food recipe. I suggest making the cheese one day in advance. I used whole wheat flour instead of white flour and there is no yeast in the pizza dough. The tomato sauce is also homemade. Enjoy the homemade pizza!


Prep Time: 20 minutes (Cheese: 20 minutes; 1 day in advance)
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serving: 4

Ingredients:

For Pizza Dough: (it will make two 10" pizzas)

• 2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt to taste
• 1 cup water approximately 

For Tomato Sauce: (it will make 1 1/2 cup sauce)

• 6 plum tomatoes boiled, peeled and crushed (boiled for two minutes)
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano
• 3 to 4 fresh basil
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red chilli flakes
• 2 tablespoon olive oil

For Cheese: (it will make 12oz. cheese)

• 1 1/4 cup paneer
• 1 1/3 teaspoon white flour
• salt to taste
• Pinch haldi/turmeric powder
• Six teaspoon ghee (purified butter)
• Cheesecloth or muslin

For Toppings:

• 1/2 cup sliced green capsicum (long strips)
• 1/2 cup sliced red capsicum (long strips)
• 2 sliced jalapenos

Directions:

1. To make the sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan, add crushed tomatoes and add all other ingredients.
2. Stir well and bring to a simmer on a low flame. Stirring often for at least 15 minutes and cool down
3. To make the cheese, you first need to make paneer. First, boil milk (whole milk 1/2 gallon).
4. When the milk comes to rise, add two tablespoon lemon juice
5. Turn off the stove, the milk should begin to curdle, immediately in a muslin or cheesecloth drain the curdled milk. Squeeze all the liquid out, and let it cool
6. In a mixer add the paneer, white flour, salt, turmeric powder, and ghee, mix it well
7. Form the cheese into a square shape and put in a refrigerator for five to six hours to set until the cheese is ready
8. To make pizza dough - mix all of the dry ingredients, add water and oil
9. Mix until it forms a ball, the dough should be soft, but not sticky
10. Knead on a flour surface for 2 to 3 minutes, divide in two balls, spray pizza pan with oil and spread the dough in to a 10" diameter
11. To make the pizza, preheat oven to 400 degrees, bake the crust in the oven for five to six minutes
12. Take out the crust from the oven, spread tomato sauce on the crust, top with homemade cheese and vegetables (you can add any veg of your choice) bake it for at least 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown
13. Pizza is ready to serve

HOMEMADE PIZZA BEFORE BAKING

HOMEMADE  PIZZA AFTER BAKING

HOMEMADE CHEESE

SHREDDED CHEESE

HOMEMADE TOMATO SAUCE

Bagel Beans Pizza

Back in the early '90s, I was making beans one day and my cousin brother Subodh, brought home bagels. As we were talking, we decided it would be great to put the beans on the bagel and create a pizza! To this day, my entire family makes this! It's easy to make and everyone enjoys it.

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serving: 4

Ingredients:

• 4 Bagels (plain or your choice of flavor)
• 2 red kidney bean cans (19 oz.) or you can use dry kidney beans (soak in a warm water for atleast 4 to 5 hours and cook in a pressure cooker)
• 1 bag (16oz) of shredded mozzarella or Mexican cheese
• 3 tablespoon oil
• 2 small onions ( diced small)
• 2 small plum tomatoes (diced small)
• 2 green chilies (chopped)
• 4 garlic cloves (chopped)
• 1/2 inch piece ginger (chopped)
• 4 jalapeno (sliced)
• 2 tablespoon red chili powder 
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin powder
• 1/2 tablespoon coriander powder
• Salt to taste 
• Red crushed pepper / red chilli flakes and ground black pepper for garnish

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a pan
2. Add diced onions, saute onion until medium brown
3. Add chopped garlic, ginger & green chilies. Saute until its tender
4. Add diced tomatoes 
5. When it is softened, add red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt & mix it well
6. Rinse and drain kidney beans from can and place in the pan
7. Mix it well & cook it for five minutes
8. Slice the bagels in half and toast lightly in a toaster oven
9. Spread the bean mixture on a bagel, sprinkle with cheese
10. Place sliced jalapenos on top 
11. Once again put the bagels inside the oven, until the cheese is melted
12. Garnish with salt, black pepper & red crushed pepper to taste and serve hot

Enjoy!

Note: Instead of bagels, you can use sliced bread or Italian bread.

For Jains, you can use cabbage instead of onions, ginger powder instead of ginger and omit the garlic. The taste will still be good.