Mama Mia, it’s Pizza!

I was inspired to make my own pizza yesterday after a recipe was published in a little section in the Mind You Body newspaper supplement. I had all the ingredients at home, so I decided to take a break from studying Business, Government and Society (which is my last exam paper, and after tomorrow, the holidays would be here!) and attempt to make my first pizza (make that six in all to feed the family of six including my domestic helper; I have two teenage brothers so you understand why I have to make so many) ever!

It was a surprisingly easy to make the pizza. The only difficult part was when I had to exert a lot of strength in rolling out the dough. What’s more, you can use whatever you fancy for the toppings! I made 3 vegetarian pizzas and the other three had sausages and crabstick meat on them.

I used bread flour, that’s why the base was very soft and chewy!

After mixing and kneading the base ingredients together, I left the dough to ferment for an hour. It grew twice the size! But it was really elastic and soft! Enough of being nice, show who’s the boss and give it a punch down!

Now, this was the tiring part! Every time I tried to flatten the dough with the rolling pin, it wouldn’t stretch out as far as I would like it to be, so I had to keep rollin, rollin’ rollin’…

Once it was all flat (I like my pizza crusts thin than thick), I placed it into an olive-oil greased pan. Actually I had to use the pan to cut out the perfect circular shape of the base. When I rolled it out with the rolling pin, the dough looked anything but circle! It even looked like the continent of Australia at one point!

Spread the tomato paste on the base like you would with red paint on a canvas…

And if you like, spread a bit of pesto on the base as well. I tried spreading it on the base but realised the basil taste wasn’t as distinctive if I brushed the pesto after I have sprinkled the toppings. Problem with the latter if that their was a tendency for the toppings to keep moving if you tried to spread the pesto evenly, but the taste was there.

So it’s up to you… convenience or taste?

For my vegetarian pizza, I used tomatoes, Portobello mushrooms, spinach leaves, red pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, French beans and my favourite… garlic! This is an easy way of getting all your daily servings of 5 (don’t aim for two, that’s too little!) vegetables in!

I only bothered making the toppings really neat for the first pizza, subsequently, the rest had toppings placed in a haphazard manner! :p

All the toppings on the vegetarian pizza, with shredded cheese (chedder, because I didn’t have mozzarella).

The one with sausages and crabstick meat on it…

I added some herbs in the form of oregano, pepper and Italian seasoning. Oh an a pinch of salt too.

Then into the oven it goes!

After a mere 13 minutes…

TA-DA!

It smelt soooo good! It tasted even better!

Yummy! My family raved about it, but I guess anything is much better if it is handmade with love! Reminds me of my friend, Dawn’s website name… Hi Dawn, if you ever get to read this!

Here is a basic recipe for pizza dough (enough to make a 10-12 inch pizza:

-175g or 1 1/2 cups of bread flour

- 1 tbsp of olive oil

- 1tsp of salt

- 1 tbsp of yeast

- 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water

1) Sieve the flour and mix it together with the salt and yeast.

2) Create a ‘well’ in the centre and add the olive oil and lukewarm water.

3) Knead the ingredients for 10 minutes on a lightly-floured surface until dough is soft and elastic.

4) Place the dough in a lightly-greased bowl covered with cling-wrap. Leave it to ferment for an hour. The dough will grow twice in size.

5) Knead it again for 2 minutes before using.

6) After adding the toppings, bake in the oven at 230 degrees Celsius for 12-14 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

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There you go! Wasn’t that simple? So simple that I recalled the base recipe from memory! Go me.

As for the toppings, it’s really up to you! Try using eggplant, tuna, onions, chicken etc… the list is endless! I am tempted to try it with sliced bananas and Nutella! Mmmm…!

The beginning of a culinary quest…

Not another food blog!

I may have lost count of the number of blogs I have started, but for this one, it will be primarily on my love for nutritious food. I have a penchant for surfing health and food websites (which I will introduce them to you, my dear reader in time to come), picking up health magazines like SHAPE from news stands and when I have the leisure of spending my time in the kitchen, I love creating dishes that bring comfort to one’s soul or lifts the spirits, just by looking at how fresh the ingredients are. Of course, taste would be another matter all together but I aspire to marry flavors together to create a distinct, unforgettable dish.

I currently a university student (without a major yet because I can’t make up my mind), who loves cooking, eating, blogging… Now you know why I am here…

Being a Singaporean, where the locals take much pride that their national hobby is eating (oh, and shopping too), there is no reason for one to feel starved when walking along the streets. Just let your legs (and nose) guide you to the nearest food court (affectionately known to us as Kopitiam), a nondescript coffee shop, a mid-priced range cosy hole-in-the-wall cafe or a restaurant that has attracted hoards of loyal customers since its beginning. I love my local food like Indian thosai and Bak Chor Mee, but I am aware that having them too often isn’t exactly very good for the waistline! Nonetheless, I hope to share local food that I have grown All Singaporeans I know who have gone overseas for an extended period of time never fail to have a hearty meal (either plates of roti prata, laksa, sambal stingray, chicken rice or Hokkien mee will be present) at a hawker centre before having to jet off once again. Food as a national identity, why not?

Food for the soul

I am sure this quote by Greek philosopher, Hippocrates, is not unfamiliar,

“Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.”

It is true that eating healthy food nourishes our body in ways that advanced medicine cannot compare. Just by being more conscious of what we put inside our mouths, and by making it a habit just taking just a few seconds to glance at nutrition labels goes a long way in living a balanced, healthy lifestyle.

Over the past two years, I have come to appreciate the wonders of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Nowadays, my body would feel out of all sorts if I didn’t have at least one fruit or one vegetable for the day. It doesn’t sound to difficult to get nutrients from God’s harvest of natural foods, but trust me, I have been though periods of times where by hectic schedule doesn’t allow me to pause and enjoy the taste of wholesome foods. What’s more, when one gets so caught up with work and stress overwhelms, our body has a terrible way of sending out an SOS, in that of food cravings for sugary chocolate, high fat and sodium laden potato chips, an artery clogging plate of char kuey tiao etc, which only sends our blood sugar level and our moods crashing. I know for sure that if I have indulged too much, my mood dips more because I feel sooo guilty of the calories indigested! (Sorry for the girly whine here.)

That said, everything should be done in moderation, and I hope this blog will allow me to achieve that as I become more aware with what we deem ‘fuel for our bodies’. And I must admit now that I am quite a sucker for desserts, especially chocolate (a good piece of quality dark chocolate makes me go weak in my knees!). Not to cover up for my guilty pleasures, but did you know that 70% dark chocolate has health benefits in the form of antioxidants? So go ahead and bite into a piece… just not the whole block in one sitting though!

Well, I would rather have my cake and eat it, rather than starving myself. I love running and occasionally going for a swim (when the tropical weather holds all the dark clouds and thunderstorms at bay), and I believe that there shouldn’t be a reason why people should deprive themselves of gastronomical delights when our bodies expand the energy we intake through our daily activities.

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OK I think it has been a long introductory post, but I am looking forward to posting up my meals, recipes that I have tried and everything and anything related to health, wellbeing and food (books, websites, eateries etc)! I greatly appreciate comments too!

Join me as you GET INTO MY TUMMY.