Saag Pizza (Indian Style Spinach Pizza)

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Pizza

Dish: Indian Style Saag Pizza

We are into 2nd week of blogging marathon and my theme for this week is 'Pizza'. With the kids home on summer vacation, I knew they would be very happy if I made some pizza at home, so picked the theme. First up is a Indian style pizza topping on an Instant pizza crust.

I have quite a few pizza recipes on the blog and most of them are traditional crusts that need at least 3 hours to up to 18 hours of rise time. So I wanted to try a crust recipe that doesn't need too much time to make. This recipe from Mel's Kitchen worked out perfectly. It needs just 10 minutes of rise time and then you are ready to make pizzas.

I used an Indian style topping for the pizza. It is very similar to our Saag Paneer but without the paneer. This recipe is from the Kitchn site. It is a creamy spinach curry that takes about 10 minutes to make which is perfect -- so when the dough is resting, you can preheat the oven and make the topping.
I was skeptical how the kids would like this Indian twist in pizza, but they loved it. If you don't want to be bothered with making the crust, just use store bought naans instead -- they would work beautifully here. 

Saag Pizza on Instant Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

For Instant Pizza Dough:
• 2~3cups All purpose flour (I used 1cup Wholewheat and the rest AP flour)
• 1tbsp Instant Yeast
• 1tbsp Honey
• 1tsp Salt
• 1cup Warm Water
• 1tbsp Oil
• 2tsp Pizza Dough Flavor (optional)
For the Spinach Topping:
• 1 lb. Frozen Spinach, thawed
• 2tbsp Oil
• 1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
• 1 Garlic clove, finely minced
• 1/2" Ginger piece, finely grated
• 1tsp Garam Masala
• 1/2tsp Red chili powder
• To taste Salt & Pepper
• 1/3cup Heavy Cream
• 1~2cups Mozzarella Cheese, grated
• 1tbsp Lemon juice

Method:

1. Prepare Pizza Dough: Combine yeast, honey, salt, oil and water in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk well. Gradually add the flour and mix until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Dough should be soft and smooth.
2. Knead for 5~6 minutes. Cover and set aside for at least 10 minutes (or longer if you have the time).
3. Preheat the oven to 500F.
4. Make the Spinach Topping: While the pizza dough rests, make the saag (greens). Heat oil in a pan, add the onion and cook till it turns translucent. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add red chili powder, garam masala, salt and pepper.
5. Squeeze out the excess water from spinach and add it to the onion mixture. Cook till all of the moisture from spinach evaporates, about 2~3 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and add cream and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
7. Roll the dough out into 1 12~13" round pizza or 2~3 6~8" round pizzas. Place them on a lightly greased baking sheet or preheated baking stone. Divide the spinach mixture among the pizza bases and spread into an even layer, leaving about 1/2" border. Sprinkle with cheese.
8. Bake 1 baking sheet at a time until the cheese is melted and the crust is cooked through, about 8~10 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool for couple of minutes before slicing and eating.

 

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 66.