Pizza with Butter Masala Sauce and Chicken Pakora

Ingredients:

1 batch perfect pizza quartered and made into four individual pizza bases

For the chicken pakora:
500g chicken thighs
250ml yoghurt
4 tbsp Chopped coriander
1 tsp Garlic puree
1 tsp Ginger puree
1 tsp ground Turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp tandoori masala
1/2 tsp Smoked paprika
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
Juice and zest of a lemon
Salt, to taste
Sugar, to taste
Handful finely chopped chillies

For the butter masala sauce:
30g ghee or clarified butter
1 onion finely diced
2 green chillies, (green finger chillies) minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
50g ginger finely diced
3 cloves
5 green cardamoms crushed
400g chopped tomatoes, tinned or fresh
2 tsp tomato purée
1 tbsp yoghurt
1/2 tsp salt
½ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric
300ml double cream
Salt, lemon juice, black pepper and sugar to taste

Method:

For the chicken pakora:
Mix the ingredients in a bowl with the chicken then set aside in the refrigerator to marinate (preferably overnight but as long as you can afford - 30 minutes would be the minimum) then fry in a deep fat frier heated to 180C.

For the sauce:
Place a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the ghee/butter and use to fry the onion for about 5 minutes, or until soft and translucent.

Stir in the garlic, ginger and chillies and cook, stirring frequently, for a further 5 minutes.

Now add the cloves, cardamom and cumin, stir to combine and cook for 5 mins.

Add the tomatoes and tomato purée, stirring well to combine.

In a bowl, whisk together the yoghurt, salt, turmeric and chilli powder then mix in with your other ingredients. Bring everything to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes, until reduced to a thick sauce you can use to cover your pizzas.

Stir in the double cream and continue simmering until reduced once more.

Season the sauce to taste with salt, sugar, lemon juice and freshly-ground black pepper.

Assembling the pizzas:
Arrange the rounds of dough on baking trays (two per tray), covering with clingfilm and setting aside to prove as you prepare the sauce. In the meantime pre-heat your oven to its highest setting (about 220-230C).

Place the pizza bases in the oven and cook for 2 minutes to puff up and firm. Remove from the oven then cover these pizza bases with the creamy butter masala sauce, spreading it evenly the back of a spoon.

Chop the chicken pakora into small chunks and spread evenly over the pizza, transfer to your pre-heated oven oven and bake for 8-10 minutes until crispy.