Saturday, January 16, 2016

Thai Chicken Flatbread Pizza

These work great for a variety of occasions - you need quick after school meals, your house has been invaded by teenagers, your family is going to sit around and have movie night?  You name it!  These are fun, easy, and the main components can be made ahead of time for quick assembly.

I personally love so many Thai dishes.  I just love the way the flavors come together, and this dish is no exception.  You get the full gamut of sweet, salty, crunchy, smooth, some heat, and some cool all in the same bite! Mmmmm!  Flatbread is relatively easy to find these days in most grocery stores, but if you can't, you can use naan or even a pocketless pita bread for this this.  You can even ask your local pizza joint to sell you some dough and make your own pizza crust, or in a pinch perhaps break open one of those pizza-crust-in-a-can things and cook that for your dough before you start. Hey - this is not about stressing.  This is about having fun with your peeps!   


Ingredients:
Peanut Curry Sauce - (yield 2 cups)
  • 2 Tbsp canola oil
  • 2 Tbsp red curry paste
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • (my personal favorite is Peter Pan Honey Roasted but use what makes you happy)
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • 5 Tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce
Each Pizza
  • 1 square flatbread (approx 10" x 10")
  • 2 - 3 tsp peanut curry sauce
  • 2 - 3 slices fresh mozzarella, depending on size
  • 3 oz grilled or cooked chicken (covered in another tsp peanut sauce)
  • 1/4 cup total of mixed and yellow bell peppers 
  • 2 - 3 Tbsp cucumber matchsticks (no seeds)
  • ~ 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro leaves
  • ~ 1 Tbsp chopped roasted peanuts
** The peanut curry sauce can be made ahead of time.  It can be stored in the refrigerator in a closed container (such as a jar) for up to a week.  It's enough to make several pizzas.

Step-by-Step:
For the peanut curry sauce, all you do is combine all the ingredients in a bowl.  That's all folks!  :)

For the pizza, just assemble leaving the cold crunchy stuff until last.  Here we go:

We are starting off with a few ounces of cooked chicken.  This could be grilled/roasted/leftover chicken you have in the fridge.  So that it won't dry out, wrap in in some parchment or waxed paper to heat it up so that it will steam a bit. 
Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and set aside.
Add a few spoons of the peanut curry sauce to the pieces of chicken in a small bowl.
Take some frozen peppers out of the freezer and pop them into the microwave.  Easy peezy!  They won't take long.  Maybe 45 seconds to a minute.
You'll  need to blog these guys dry afterwards, because they will give off a lot of water.  But the advantage of using the frozen peppers is that they break down really quickly.
 See what I mean?

Okay, grab a flatbread of your choice.  You can also use Naan or a pita bread.  Whatever you want. If you want to use a premade pizza crust, try that.  I throw mine in the panini grill first to get some nice grill marks on it; but you can also just put it in a skillet and heat both sides, or on your pizza stone.

Time to start assembly.
Spread some peanut curry sauce on the warm flatbread.  Notice, I am "building" my pizza on the backside of a cookie sheet turned upside down.  That means, when it's finished cooking, I'll be able to easily slide it off without having to worry about navigating the edge or lip of the cookie sheet. 
 Next, add some pieces of torn, fresh mozzarella.
Next, some of the chicken that has been bathing in the peanut curry sauce.

Next, add some strips of the pepper strips (which you have patted dry).
Okay, pop your pizza under the broiler.
It's done when the cheese gets ooey gooey and everything is hot and melty.  (I mean, how else can you describe it?)  Honestly though, everything is cooked, you are just needing everything to come together here. 
So......
We have all the hot components.  Now it's time to balance this out with the cold crunchy stuff.

We start off with cool, crisp cucumber matchsticks that have been rid of all the seeds.
Then we add the pan roasted, chopped peanuts.
And finally we finish off with some bright cilantro (or parsley if you aren't a cilantro person).  This gives a gorgeous Thai Chicken Pizza with a balance of sweet, spicy, smooth, crunchy, hot, cold. Mmmmmm!  And if you are thinking that a 10"x10" pizza wouldn't fill you up, you would be surprised!   

I hope you enjoyed this fabulous and easy recipe!
There are hundreds more in my Recipe Index, just waiting to be chosen and cooked!  You can also visit my Film strips for pinning page, to see whole recipes at a glance, and to click-and-go right to the recipe.

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Written Method:
For the peanut curry sauce, all you do is combine all the ingredients in a bowl.  That's all folks!  :)

For the pizza, just assemble leaving the cold crunchy stuff until last.  Here we go:
We are starting off with a few ounces of cooked chicken.  This could be grilled/roasted/leftover chicken you have in the fridge.  So that it won't dry out, wrap in in some parchment or waxed paper to heat it up so that it will steam a bit.  Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and set aside.  Add a few spoons of the peanut curry sauce to the pieces of chicken in a small bowl.

Take some frozen peppers out of the freezer and pop them into the microwave.  Easy peezy!  They won't take long.  Maybe 45 seconds to a minute.  You'll  need to blog these guys dry afterwards, because they will give off a lot of water.  But the advantage of using the frozen peppers is that they break down really quickly.

Okay, grab a flatbread of your choice.  You can also use Naan or a pita bread.  Whatever you want. If you want to use a premade pizza crust, try that.  I throw mine in the panini grill first to get some nice grill marks on it; but you can also just put it in a skillet and heat both sides, or on your pizza stone.

Time to start assembly.  Spread some peanut curry sauce on the warm flatbread.  Notice, I am "building" my pizza on the backside of a cookie sheet turned upside down.  That means, when it's finished cooking, I'll be able to easily slide it off without having to worry about navigating the edge or lip of the cookie sheet.   Next, add some pieces of torn, fresh mozzarella.  Next, some of the chicken that has been bathing in the peanut curry sauce.  Next, add some strips of the pepper strips (which you have patted dry).  Okay, pop your pizza under the broiler.  It's done when the cheese gets ooey gooey and everything is hot and melty.  (I mean, how else can you describe it?)  Honestly though, everything is cooked, you are just needing everything to come together here. 

So......We have all the hot components.  Now it's time to balance this out with the cold crunchy stuff.
We start off with cool, crisp cucumber matchsticks that have been rid of all the seeds.  Then we add the pan roasted, chopped peanuts.  And finally we finish off with some bright cilantro (or parsley if you aren't a cilantro person).  This gives a gorgeous Thai Chicken Pizza with a balance of sweet, spicy, smooth, crunchy, hot, cold. Mmmmmm!  And if you are thinking that a 10"x10" pizza wouldn't fill you up, you would be surprised!   

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