Samosa Pizza

Today I am competing in my third FoodieFights.com cooking competition. I am currently 0/2, but hopefully the 3rd time is the charm. The gist of the competition is that there are six food bloggers, two featured ingredients and whole lot of glory. The featured ingredients for this Foodie Fight are peas and ginger. As soon as I heard the ingredients, I instantly starting thinking about the amazing Samosas that my friend Vishal brings me. His Mom makes the best food, and luckily she makes enough for me. I love the flavor and wanted to create a twist to this traditional meal. So, I decided to use the ingredients for a samosa pizza.

UPDATE – Voting has closed and this recipe was the winner of the FoodieFights.com competition. Check out Foodiefights.com for the results and write-up.

Traditionally, these little bags of goodness are fried, but I decided to make a crispy crust to get the same texture.

I wanted to use farm fresh peas for this competition, but was unable to find any at the local farmer’s market or even the super market. Come to find out, peas are extremely perishable and start losing nutrients within hours of being picked. Thus, the best peas available, if you do not pick them yourself, are frozen peas. This is why peas were one of the first vegetables ever frozen and sold. Today, peas are frozen within hours of being picked to retain as many nutrients as possible. Technology is cool.

As for the ginger, I was also unable to find this at the local farmer’s market. However, the local market had a ton of it. Quick tip for ginger. The easiest way to peel ginger is with a spoon. Sounds weird, but the spoon easily peels it and removes the frequent nubs. Once peeled you can slice, dice and grate without any hassle.

After you take a look at my recipe, stop on by FoodieFights.com to see the other recipes and ultimately vote for this recipe.

Samosa Pizza

• Dough
  • 1/2 tbs active dry yeast or 1/2 packet of instant yeast
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tbs water
  • 1/2 tbs sugar
  • 1/2 tbs salt
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 2 tsp garam masala
  • 1 3/4 cup bread flour

  
  

• Toppings – (Adapted from Emeril Lagasse’s fried samosas)
  
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 1 1/2 cup green peas
  • 2 tsp minced ginger
  • 2 large potatoes, 1/2 inch dice, boiled till tender about 10 minutes
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 jalapenos
  • 1 tsp coriander
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp tumeric
  • 1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)

  
  

• Pizza Sauce – (Adapted from Bon Appetit September 2007)
  • 2/3 cup ketchup
  • 2 tbs soy sauce
  • 1 tsp minced fresh ginger
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 1 tbs olive oil

  
  

• Additionals
  • 1 cup mozzarella cheese
    

Pizza Dough

Mix the sugar, water and yeast in a bowl or the bowl of your mixer and let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients. Mix by hand or on low speed in your mixer for a minute, or until the flour is incorporated. The amount of flour requried to make a dough ball that is not too sticky will vary with temperature and humidity. Mine took a little more than 1 3/4 cups. Once you have a good dough ball, place it on a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. If you have a mixer with a dough hook, place it on medium speed for 8-10 minutes.

Next, I place the dough on a floured surface and leave it covered with a cotton towel or a tea towel for an hour or so – basically until the dough doubled in size.

Pizza Sauce

Toast the cumin in a small saucepan over medium heat until it darkens and begins to smoke. Roughly 1-2 minutes. Dump out the cumin into a small bowl and set aside.

Add the olive oil to the pan over medium/low heat and add the ginger and garlic. Saute until the mixture is very fragrant. Roughly 2 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients. Whisk together and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Toppings

In a large saute pan, heat 1/4 cup of vegetable oil over medium/high heat. Add the coriander and coat with the oil. Then add the onions and ginger and cook until the onions caramelize. This should take roughly 5 minutes.

Once the onions caramelize, add the garlic, jalapenos, garam masala, salt, tumeric and cayenne. Stir for 30 seconds to a minute until the mixture is fragrant.

Add the potatoes and stir. Cook until the potatoes start to brown and soak up all of the oil. Roughly 3-5 minutes.

Add the peas and cook for an additional minute. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Assembly of the Pizza

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

On a floured surface, form a flat round disk with the pizza dough. Start in the middle and slowly press the edges out. Dust a pizza peel with semolina or cornmeal and place the flattened pizza dough onto it.

Pour about 1 cup of the pizza sauce onto the pizza dough and spread it around the dough. This is easily done using the back of a large spoon or ladle.

Top the pizza evenly with the mozzarella cheese. I know this doesn’t seem like much cheese, but this pizza is so flavorful that it does not need any more than a cup.

Now top the pizza evenly with the toppings. I use a spoon and a fork to make sure that I evenly distribute the toppings over the pizza. You want to have an onion, potato and plenty of peas in each bite.

Place the pizza into the preheated oven onto a pizza stone and cook for 10-12 minutes. Cook till the pizza crust browns and the toppings start to lightly brown.

Remove from the oven, slice and serve.

This pizza was super tasty. It totally reminded me of the green pepper samosas that Vishal brought over. For your information, what Vishal calls a green pepper, everyone else calls it a Jalapeno. So his green pepper samosas are extremely spicy and delicious. Thanks for the idea Vishal. I hope that you guys enjoy it as much as I do.

UPDATE – This recipe was the winner of the FoodieFights.com competition. Check out Foodiefights.com for the results and write-up.