Paneer Tikka Pizza on Naan Bread


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Paneer Tikka Pizza on Naan Bread

Somehow or other, the idea of a paneer cheese pizza with naan bread recently came to mind. I went about drafting a recipe, knowing I had a day off coming up with nothing pressing to attend to. I'm pretty confident when it comes to my culinary skills, and frequently modify recipes, sometime significantly, but drafting your own recipe for something rather new can be intense. Cooking temperatures, flavor combinations, and the compatibility of the ingredients as a whole were not immediately apparent to me. As a consequence, I gave this recipe considerable thought and worked in harmony with the food. I admit I didn't make everything from scratch — I bought the naan bread, the block of paneer cheese I used to make the paneer tikka masala, and also the vindaloo paste — but this experiment with Indian fusion was a huge success.

Paneer Tikka Pizza on Naan Bread

Start a day ahead with the paneer tikka masala:

Paneer Tikka Pizza on Naan BreadPaneer Tikka Pizza on Naan Bread
Recipe by
Cuisine: Indian
Published on February 5, 2008

My favorite pizza of all time — homemade pieces of paneer tikka masala along with peppers and fried mushrooms spread over a homemade spicy Indian-style tomato sauce on top of fresh naan bread, all topped with melted bubbly Gruyère cheese

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Paneer Tikka Masala

Ingredients:
  • 14 oz (400 g) paneer cheese
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled
  • 1/2-inch piece fresh ginger, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • pinch of cayenne
  • 1 teaspoon dried fenugreek (methi) leaves, crumbled
  • 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • juice from 1 lemon (3 tablespoons)
Instructions:
  • Cut the paneer cheese into 1-inch cubes. Crush the ginger and garlic together to make a paste. Combine with the rest of the ingredients. Coat each piece of paneer with the yogurt spice marinade. Cover the paneer cheese and refrigerate for a least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

  • Coat a baking sheet with oil. Spread the marinated paneer cheese cubes in a single layer on the baking sheet, and place under the broiler. Broil until the cubes brown up, taking care to turn the cubes frequently so they brown evenly on all sides.

Makes approximately 2 dozen pieces

Tomato Sauce:

Ingredients:
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 shallots or 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
  • 2 fresh green chilies, seeded and finely chopped
  • 2 small firm tomatoes, diced
  • juice from 1 lemon (3 tablespoons)
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon vindaloo paste
  • pinch of cayenne
  • pinch of dried red chili flakes
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
  • 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions:
  • Heat the oil over medium heat in a medium saucepan. When hot, fry the shallots or onion for a few minutes until they turn translucent. Add the garlic and green chilies, and stir and fry for another minute. Increase the heat slightly and add the tomatoes, tomato paste, vindaloo paste, lemon juice, salt, cayenne and red chili flakes. Cook until the mixture thickens, about 20 to 30 minutes. Stir in the parsley and remove from heat.


Skillet-Fried Mushrooms

Ingredients:
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small onion, sliced
  • 8 oz (225 g) white mushrooms, sliced
Instructions:
  • Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion, stir and fry for a minute or so, and add the mushrooms. Cook for another 8 to 10 minutes or until the mushrooms just begin to release their juices. Remove from heat.

Pizza

Ingredients:
  • 2 10-inch or 12-inch naan breads
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
  • 1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh grated Gruyère, Swiss or other creamy and salty cheese
Assembly:
  • Preheat an oven to 350°F.

  • Place the two naan breads on a large baking sheet. Coat the breads with olive oil and spread evenly with the tomato sauce. Arrange chopped peppers, cooked mushrooms, and pieces of the paneer tikka masala over top. Sprinkle with grated Gruyère cheese.

  • Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the pizzas are heated and the cheese is bubbling, then place under the broiler for a minute or two or until the cheese is slightly browned.

Makes 2 10-inch or 12-inch pizzas, with maybe a little paneer tikka masala left to nibble on.

Paneer Tikka Pizza on Naan Bread

17 comments:

Kalai said...

Now that's something I could totally sink my teeth into! Pls send the leftovers my way, Lisa! :)

Lisa Turner said...

Leftovers? Yeah right :)

Perhaps we could swap some food. You cook for me and I will make some paneer pizza for you.

test it comm said...

The paneer pizza looks really good! I like the sound of the flavours of the paneer and the tomato sauce. I tried looking for some paneer on the weekend but I could not find any... I will have to look harder or maybe I can have to try make some.

Lisa Turner said...

Paneer cheese you cannot do without. Making your own is even better because you can achieve your desired consistency.

Peter M said...

Anything with Vindaloo in the ingedrients is gonna be HOT! You're a brave gal.

Lisa Turner said...

Peter m:

I am no coward when it comes to food. For that matter, neither are you.

Johanna GGG said...

that looks fantastic (admittedly I would have to tone down the chilli).

There are days I have an idea in my head and can't think if I have seen it before or if I thought it up - but I find it helpful to check out similar recipes to get ideas on how others would do it and then do whatever suits me best! Looks like your creative juices were in fine form on this one and didn't need help :-)

LisaRene said...

Vindaloo paste intrigues me, I'll have to keep an eye out for it. I imagine it is similar to a Thai curry paste only based on spices from India? I have a recipe for Vindaloo Stew that I have been meaning to make. It has an assortment of dried spices in it. Now I'm curious and will have to do a bit of research to learn more about vindaloo. I suspect I'm in the right place!

görel said...

This looks and sounds delicious! I have just recently heard about paneer cheese and know where to buy it in Stockholm, not so sure about vindaloo paste though, but I'm sure I can figure that one out too!

indosungod said...

I want to strech out and grab some :) Looks mouthwatering.

Lisa Turner said...

Lisarene;

There are plenty of recipes for vindaloo paste. Here is an example. I admit I bought mine at a local Indian grocery store.

Vindaloo stew sounds wonderful. If you scroll through my Indian category you will find a few more vindaloo recipes.

Lucy said...

Incredible Lisa - what a stunner!

This will be made on my return from a week in Sydney and I can't wait. I want it right now...

MapMaster said...

This was absolutely the best pizza I've ever had, and the sauce with the vindaloo paste was incredible. I'm just upset that it's going to be a long time before Lisa makes it for me again!

Anonymous said...

Now thats something new which could raise an eyebrow, i do combinations like these too at times when i'm very hungry and fell lazy :-) Will try this sometime..

www.zaiqa.net

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

That looks absolutely amazing Lisa! I have made pizza with naan bread before, but nothing as exciting as this! I think I need to try new pizza toppings!

Anonymous said...

This is "finger-licking" incredible. I am a very sloppy cook, never follow a recipe to a T, and even that the pizza came out delicious. This will be a repeat recipe for me. Thanks lisa.

Ryle Hira said...

I made this last night, and it was delicious!

A couple of notes:
The recipe calls for "juice from one lemon" to be used in the tomato sauce-- but I felt that the lemon really overpowered the sauce (which I fixed with more sugar and salt, so my advice would be to be to add lemon juice to taste.
Also, I would probably add some more fresh tomato to the sauce.

I made it with naan, but I could see this recipe working really well with French bread-- the sauce would soak nicely into the bread, I think.

Oh, and I used the gruyere cheese-- delicious, but expensive. I might try Swiss cheese the next time.

Serving Size is spot on-- had just a bit of paneer tikki left over.