No Yeast No Oven Vegetable Pizza

In this tough time of lock down, it is really impossible and tough to order pizza from outside considering the health and safety. What if I say that pizza can be made easily at home without even an oven. Yes!!!!! This pizza turned out super amazing and soft with all the favorite toppings. Trust me... This was as good as any dominoes or Pizza hut Pizza and yet pocket friendly. This is made with homemade pizza and pasta sauce which is also super easy to make. Homemade is always bliss and gives you the best satisfaction one can ever get. In this recipe, I have used roasted garlic powder,parsley and oregano for a additional flavor to make the base. You can very well skip it if you want the base to be plain. But trust me, this adds lovely flavor to the crust.

Serves: 2 Pizzas

Ingredients

For the Dough

1. All purpose Flour - 2 cups
2. Curd/Yogurt - 1/4 cup
3. Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
5. Salt - 1/2 tsp
6. Oil - 2 tbsp (Vegetable or olive oil)
7. Roasted Garlic Powder - 2 tsp (Optional)
8. Parsley - 1 tsp
9. Oregano - 1 tsp
10. Water - 3/4 cup
11. Sugar - 1 tsp

For the Toppings

1. Homemade Pizza and Pasta Sauce - As needed to spread
2. Mozzarella Cheese - cubed or grated ( 1.5 cups )
3. Red chili powder / Paprika powder/ Red chili flakes- 1 tsp for each pizza(as per taste)
4. Oregano seasoning/ Mixed Italian Seasoning - as per taste
5. Veggies of your choice - Jalapenos,Baby corn,Olives,Tomatoes,capsicum,corn,onion (as show in the picture)

                                    

Method

1. Add the dry ingredients and wet ingredients mentioned under the "Dough" and combine well. Knead nicely for 5 mins into a pliable soft dough. The real trick lies in the kneading for pizza to come out really soft. Sieve the flour, baking powder and soda to get rid of any particles so that the dough is smooth. Cover with a moist cloth and keep it aside for about an hour.

                                        


2. Roll it into a flat round shape as shown in the picture. I have not created a dent in my recipe, however you can create a dent so that it resembles of Restaurant Pizza. Prick the pizza base with forks as shown below. This helps the base to be cooked uniformly and inside as the steam is circulated through the holes.

                                                


3. Place the pizza base on a non stick pan. I made a mistake of using a cast iron pan and the base got slightly hard. However, non stick gives a perfect finish.

Base made by cooking on a non stick pan

4. After placing the base on non stick pan, apply pizza sauce generously.

                                     


5. Add all your favorite toppings uniformly. I have just added it randomly as it was just me and my husband who are gonna eat it:P This was a tip from my friend, ensure all 4 slices have all the toppings distributed equally so that everybody gets a bite of all the toppings. So start placing the toppings equally and uniformly so that when you cut them into 4 slices, it is divided equally and NOT like this one:)

6. Add lavish amount of mozzarella cheese cubes (grated or cubed) over the pizza along with some oregano, Italian herbs and red chili flakes sprinkled as per taste. Sooooo Cheeesy!!! and cover it with a lid. Allow the pan to simmer (full low flame) for 8 mins.

                                     

7. After 8 mins, remove the pizza from the pan and transfer to plate :):) Slice it and enjoy this simple Pan to Plate Pizza that is yummy and Cheesyyyyy !!!

8. You can also pre - cook the base alone as mentioned in the above step. Do not flip it. Cook by covering the lid on one side on low flame for 8 mins. After it cools down, store in Zip lock covers.

9. Add the pizza sauce, toppings,cheese and microwave it until the cheese melts. Serve it hot :) So Easy :)

Pre Cooking the base in advance

Caramel Bread Pudding

This is a very simple and yummy dessert that can be made with easy and readily available ingredients at home. This is a no bake and no oven version and is prepared by steaming the bread-milk-sugar batter.

The texture is not like that of a cake ,but more of a soft pudding. If you have some leftover breads and wondering how to finish them off, this would be a perfect delicacy to treat your kids and family.

I have used readymade hershey's caramel syrup as I had them with me. However, I have mentioned how to make homemade caramel syrup. This recipe is picked up from VegRecipesOfIndia with slight changes to make it more sweet.

serves: 3

Ingredients

1. Whole Wheat Bread - 6 slices
2. Boiled Milk - 1.5 cups *I used the semi fat milk
3. White Sugar - 1/2 cup
4. Corn Flour - 1 tsp
5. Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Homemade Caramel Syrup

1. White Sugar - 2.5 tbsp
2. Water - 1 tbsp

Method

1. Powder the bread slices in a mixer grinder.

2. Warm the milk on a stove in a low heat. Add powdered bread, corn flour, essence and sugar and mix well on a low heat till the mixture thickens and the sugar dissolves completely.

3. Take sugar in an aluminium pan or any pan of your choice. Add sugar and water and heat it on a low flame. Keep stirring the mixture until the sugar caramelizes and becomes golden brown as shown in the below pic. Once this stage is reached, remove the pan from stove.

4. Add the bread - milk - sugar batter on to the pan which already has caramel syrup in it and pat nicely.

5. Seal it properly with aluminum foil so that steam does not enter the pan.

6. Steam the contents in an electric cooker steamer or in a normal pressure cooker for about 30 mins.

To steam in electric cooker, fill the cooker pan with 4 cups of water and switch to cooking mode. Place the steamer basket above the cooker pan as shown in the pic. Once the steam starts coming up, place the pudding batter pan inside the steamer and steam for 30 mins.

In Pressure Cooker, fill the pressure cooker with 4 cups of water and place a stand. On the stand, place the batter pan and steam for 30 mins. Do not use the weight while steaming in pressure cooker.

7. After steaming, let the pudding cool down. Once cooled down, refrigerate the pudding for 2 hours.

8. Open the pan and remove the foil. Use a knife to gently scrape the sides so that it is easy to unmold. Flip the pan gently onto a plate.

9. There you have, the delicious caramel coated bread pudding ready to be sliced :):) Yummy...

10. You can put more caramel syrup if required depending on your taste :)

Homemade Granola using Jaggery

When it comes to toddler snacks, we always want to go in for a healthy option that are delectable for kids as well. Granola- is one such ideal healthy snacking option not just for kids, but adults as well.
Though not an Indian snack, it is off late gaining lot of popularity here for its healthy and nutritious contents.

This is a no bake recipe that can be so easily made on a stove top. This makes a great travel friendly snacking option for kids. My son loves this as he finds it crispy, crunchy and sweet :):)

You can make N number of combinations and varieties of Granola using the below key ingredients.

Preparation of Granola involves 5 Key ingredients

1. Whole grains - Rice crisps, Whole Wheat grains, Rolled Oats, Corn Flakes
2. Nuts - Walnut, Almonds, Pecan, Hazelnuts,Cashew Nuts
3. Seeds - Sesame, Pumpkin, Melon, Flaxseeds, Chia Seeds
4. Dry Fruits - Dried Cranberries, Blueberries, Raisins, chopped dates, dried apricots, dried strawberries
5. Natural Sweeteners - Dates Syrup, Raw Honey, Maple Syrup,Cane Sugar, Brown unrefined sugar, unsweetened chocolate syrup

You can make this as a Trail mix or as bars. I have chose to make them as a crispy crunch mix. Let's jump to the preparation. :)

Serves: 2 Cups

Ingredients

Whole Grains

• Rolled Oats - 1 cup

Seeds

• Melon Seeds - 2 tbsp
• Pumpkin Seeds - 2 tbsp

Seeds - Melon and Pumpkin Seeds

Nuts

• Cashew Nuts - 2 tbsp
• Walnuts - 2 tbsp

Nuts - Walnuts and Cashew Nuts

Dry Fruits

• Raisins - 2 tbsp
• Cranberries - 2 tbsp

Dry Fruits - Raisins and Cranberries

 

Sweeteners

• Honey - 2 tbsp
• Powdered Jaggery - 1/4 cup

Flavoring Ingredients

• Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
• Cinnamon Powder - 1/2 tsp

Nuts,Seeds and Dry Fruits

Method

1. Dry Roast the seeds and nuts separately in a thick bottomed pan until they emit nice flavour. Keep it aside after roasting.

2. Dry Roast the oats in a thick bottomed pan on a low-medium flame until you start getting nice aroma of oats and keep it aside separately.

3. In the pan, add powdered jaggery, cinnamon powder and 2 tbsp of water to melt the jaggery. Ensure you melt it on full low flame.

4. Once the jaggery has melted, add all the dry roasted ingredients along with dry fruits and give it a nice mix.

5. To above, add Honey and vanilla essence and give it a nice stirring on low-medium flame so that all the ingredients are crunchy and crispy.

6. Remove the contents from the pan and transfer it to a large bowl.

7. Use both your hands to separate the contents from sticking to each other. Initially, it would be sticking to each other due to jaggery. However, as you keep repeating this process of separating them using your hands by breaking the lumps, it is easier for you to make crispy crunch Trail Mix.


Please note : Do it as soon as you remove the contents from pan. If you delay, it would be a little hard to break the lumps without breaking it.


8. Store it in an airtight container and it stays fresh for long :) Enjoy this delicious snacking.