Stove top Pizza with seasoned kidney beans mash, veggies and cheese | HBC#1

Baking is therapeutic. Nothing can beat the self satisfaction that you feel when you see that bread or cake puffing up and getting that golden brown color. Not to forget the aroma of that fresh baked goodie wafting throughout your house. I have never been a part of any foodie groups and so when I first saw Priya akka's open invite for a baking challenge, I so wanted to join... Its all about baking, simple honest baking and that made me join the Home Baker's challenge, a group of friends who love baking, who have joined hands to learn and excel in baking, helping each other.. I am not sure how far I can journey with them but till now I am trying my level best to keep up with em.

For the first month's challenge, we were asked to make pizza. We were given recipes, we asked questions, there were friends to help us out and now everyone has come up with a gorgeous pizza creation. Just when I was all set to bake my pizza, my oven decided to give up on me and rather than me giving up on the pizza making part, I started browsing for stove top versions. After seeing this, I was confident enough to go on and so I made a stove-top pizza.

As for the toppings, I used some kidney beans, seasoned them with some italian herbs and pepper, mashed them really well and spread the mash on top of the pizza. I picked the idea from a tv cooking show, originally it was used as a filling for enchiladas. The topping was good, and paired well with all that cheese... On the whole the pizza was a hit, appa gave a thumbs up and so did amma. We had it for dinner, a medium sized pizza each with some cold mango juice.

~*What U Need*~ Recipe adapted from here For Pizza dough All purpose flour - 1 cup Active dried yeast - 1 tsp Warm water - 1/4 cup Salt - 1/2 tsp Canola / olive oil - 1 1/2 tbsp Seasoned kidney beans mash: Kidney beans - 1/2 cup Onion - 1/2 cup, finely chopped Green chilli - 1, finely chopped Chopped garlic - 1 tbsp Pizza sauce - 1/4 cup Italian seasoning - 1 tsp Pepper, salt - to season Oil Other toppings Onion, tomato rings Corn kernels - 1/4 cup Pizza Cheese - 1/2 - 1 cup

How I Made it:
The Pizza dough:
Mix the warm water and yeast in a small bowl to blend. Let stand until the yeast froth and gets activated, about 5 minutes. Mix the flour and salt, add oil and mix well. Add the yeast and mix till you form a dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer the dough to a large oiled bowl and turn the dough to coat with the oil.

Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm area until the dough doubles in volume, about 1 hour. Punch the down dough and divide into 2 equal balls.

Seasoned kidney beans mash:
Soak the kidney beans overnight. Cook till soft, about 3 whistles in the pressure cooker. Heat oil in a kadai, add the chopped garlic. When the raw smell leaves add onion and saute till brown. Add the cooked kidney beans.

And followed by the pizza sauce and then the italian seasoning. Now start mashing it, if needed add a splash of water. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat a tawa till it is hot, then reduce the flame to low. Roll pizza dough and then transfer the hot tawa, cook covered for 5-7 mins till brown and crisp. Flip and spread the pizza sauce, kidney beans mash, veggies, cheese and cook covered for another 5 mins till the cheese is all melty and bubbly. Remove, slice and serve.

Serve warm with some aerated drink.

** Notes:
** The dough can be used immediately or stored airtight in the refrigerator for 1 day.
** You could keep the pizza simple by just topping it with onions, tomatoes and other veggies.
** Skip the veggie part, add two types of cheese of choice for a kids friendly margherita pizza.
** Sky is the limit for the list of toppings that can go on a pizza, so innovate.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!