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2 hours ago
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Would you like Italian tonight, or Indian? Thanks to this pizza, you can have both. This recipe is written in memory of the beloved pizza of my youth: a vegetarian delight that I ate on the regular with my cousins at one of the many Indian-Italian restaurants on Leicester’s Belgrave Road (AKA the Golden Mile) circa 1990, right before washing it down with Rubicon mango juice and doing handbrake turns in a nearby car park.
Golden mile pizza
This recipe was published in my book, Dinner, last year. The dough comes together in five minutes in a food processor and proves overnight in the fridge. You’ll need to start the day before, but it can be kept in the fridge for up to four days. You’ll need two large containers or bowls to prove the dough in, a 30cm x 40cm tray for the pizza, and some chaat masala, which you can get from any Indian supermarket or online.
Prep 15 min
Rest/prove 1 day +
Cook 40 min
Makes 2 large pizzas, to feed 4
For the dough
3 tbsp rapeseed oil, plus extra for greasing
750g strong bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp fine salt
7g (2 tsp) instant yeast
For the sauce
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
400g tin chopped tomatoes
½ tsp kashmiri chilli powder
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
½ tsp fine sea salt
For the toppings
200g grated mozzarella
300g cherry tomatoes, halved
100g sweetcorn kernels, fresh or frozen and defrosted
1 green pepper, stalk, pith and seeds discarded, flesh cut into 1cm-thick slices (100g net)
½ large red onion (100g), peeled and cut into ¾cm-thick slices
2 125g balls fresh mozzarella, drained and torn
For the chaat masala oil
2 green finger chillies, very finely chopped
1 tbsp chaat masala
4 tbsp rapeseed oil
Grease the two tubs or bowls that you’re going to use to store the dough in the fridge. In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, salt and yeast a few times, until well mixed. Add the rapeseed oil and 500ml lukewarm water, pulse again until the dough comes together into a ball, then continue to mix for another 20 seconds.
Pop the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for five minutes, until you have a smooth ball. Divide the dough in two, roll into balls and pop one in each greased container. Cover with a lid or clingfilm, then chill in the fridge for at least a day, and up to four.
To make the tomato sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan on a medium heat. When it’s hot, add the garlic and sweat, stirring, for up to a minute, until it turns sticky. Add the tomatoes and kashmiri chilli, leave to bubble away for 10 minutes, then stir in the ketchup and salt, and take off the heat.
On the day you want to make your pizzas, take the dough out of the fridge at least an hour before baking. Fifteen minutes before you want to cook them, heat the oven to its hottest setting – ideally about 280C (260C fan)/535F/gas 10 – and move an oven rack to the centre of the oven. Have ready all the toppings in front of you in small bowls. In another small bowl, mix the finely chopped chillies, chaat masala and oil.
Grease two oven trays and your hands with oil. Gently push and stretch one ball of dough into one tray, until it’s an even thickness and reaches right into the corners; be careful not to push out all the air bubbles in the dough, especially at the edges.
Spoon half the tomato sauce on to the pizza base and spread it out evenly with the back of a large spoon. Scatter half the toppings over the top, starting with the grated mozzarella, then the cherry tomatoes, followed by the sweetcorn, green pepper, onion and, finally, the torn fresh mozzarella. Bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and browning, then remove and drizzle the chaat masala chilli oil over the top. Slice into eight wedges and tuck in. Repeat with the remaining pizza dough and toppings.
