Lonely Soldier Boy
Oct 24th, 2007, 02:38 PM
The 5% is because I used canned tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes. Anyone who lives in tokyo knows why :(
As a Muslim, I can't eat any pork/pig-related products. Rules are fairly similar to keeping Kosher - and this is generally an annoyance outside of certain small areas of Japan since most people aren't very careful about mixing pork with beef. (there was a criminal court case about this just a few days ago). As a result, I often do my own cooking, for better or worse.
As I have said all-too-often, Japanese pizzas are awful, terrible, et cetra. Olives are at a premium - and are my favourite ingredient to boot. As a result, I had to learn to make my own. Originally I used store-bought bread, but I took a chance a few days ago and made some flat bread of my own. I used the recipe here:
http://ifoods.blogspot.com/2007/03/easy-flat-breads.html
Very good starter on making bread.
http://www.ordisante.com/pics/handpizza/pizza-003.jpg
This bread is a bit sweet - great for dipping sauces but not ideal for pizza, as I would find out
http://www.ordisante.com/pics/handpizza/pizza-004.jpg
I greased the platter with a very small amount of extra-virgin olive oil and took the bread (which I had flattened beforehand) and spread it across this. On top I added some homemade tomato sauce (basically - fry onions and ginger, add whole tomatoes, crush in pot, add thyme and blend together after simmering for a few minutes, add some spices and then simmer for 1 hour), and various vegetables. I tried going for a little geometry here, I normally don't bother.
http://www.ordisante.com/pics/handpizza/pizza-007.jpg
I added tomatoes, green peppers, paprika, mushrooms, green olives, pepper, pepper, onions and cheese. I have Halal (which is to say Islamic Kosher) chicken that I could have used. (Usually when I do, I soak it in pepper and lemon juice after defrosting/skinning and chopping into cubes).
I put this in the oven for about 20 minutes at 220 degrees (Celcius, about 430 F). The pizza top was ready before the bread itself - the bread took about 5 minutes extra. In the future I would probably just bake the bread first for a bit and then add the toppings before continuing.
End result:
http://www.ordisante.com/pics/handpizza/pizza-011.jpg
The pizza was good, but not great. In short, it was not spicy enough and the bread was too sweet. I wish I had used Chicken in retrospect, it would have added some much needed flavour. Instead of using chilli powder in the tomato sauce I should have used jalapeno powder - it would have been tastier as a result. The cheese was also let-down - I should have gone with pure mozzarella, but it is not really available readily in Japan in quantities that I can use on Pizza. The bread in the crust just didn't have the right taste to go with the toppings - in the future I will put some crushed sesame seeds or pepper/olives directly into the crust while preparing it.
As a Muslim, I can't eat any pork/pig-related products. Rules are fairly similar to keeping Kosher - and this is generally an annoyance outside of certain small areas of Japan since most people aren't very careful about mixing pork with beef. (there was a criminal court case about this just a few days ago). As a result, I often do my own cooking, for better or worse.
As I have said all-too-often, Japanese pizzas are awful, terrible, et cetra. Olives are at a premium - and are my favourite ingredient to boot. As a result, I had to learn to make my own. Originally I used store-bought bread, but I took a chance a few days ago and made some flat bread of my own. I used the recipe here:
http://ifoods.blogspot.com/2007/03/easy-flat-breads.html
Very good starter on making bread.
http://www.ordisante.com/pics/handpizza/pizza-003.jpg
This bread is a bit sweet - great for dipping sauces but not ideal for pizza, as I would find out
http://www.ordisante.com/pics/handpizza/pizza-004.jpg
I greased the platter with a very small amount of extra-virgin olive oil and took the bread (which I had flattened beforehand) and spread it across this. On top I added some homemade tomato sauce (basically - fry onions and ginger, add whole tomatoes, crush in pot, add thyme and blend together after simmering for a few minutes, add some spices and then simmer for 1 hour), and various vegetables. I tried going for a little geometry here, I normally don't bother.
http://www.ordisante.com/pics/handpizza/pizza-007.jpg
I added tomatoes, green peppers, paprika, mushrooms, green olives, pepper, pepper, onions and cheese. I have Halal (which is to say Islamic Kosher) chicken that I could have used. (Usually when I do, I soak it in pepper and lemon juice after defrosting/skinning and chopping into cubes).
I put this in the oven for about 20 minutes at 220 degrees (Celcius, about 430 F). The pizza top was ready before the bread itself - the bread took about 5 minutes extra. In the future I would probably just bake the bread first for a bit and then add the toppings before continuing.
End result:
http://www.ordisante.com/pics/handpizza/pizza-011.jpg
The pizza was good, but not great. In short, it was not spicy enough and the bread was too sweet. I wish I had used Chicken in retrospect, it would have added some much needed flavour. Instead of using chilli powder in the tomato sauce I should have used jalapeno powder - it would have been tastier as a result. The cheese was also let-down - I should have gone with pure mozzarella, but it is not really available readily in Japan in quantities that I can use on Pizza. The bread in the crust just didn't have the right taste to go with the toppings - in the future I will put some crushed sesame seeds or pepper/olives directly into the crust while preparing it.