Tandoori Chicken and Goat Cheese Pizza

Pizza, with a twist! The naan bread I found hiding in the freezer, the last of the goat cheese and the last red pepper inspired this pizza. I marinated a couple of chicken breasts in some of the Greek yoghurt I had, along with fresh garlic, ginger and tandoori masala...this provided most of the flavour.

Make the marinade by combining:

3/4 cup plain Greek yoghurt
1 teaspoon tandoori masala
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, grated
2 teaspoon lemon juice

Place 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts into the marinade and make sure they are well coated.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.








Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade and cook in a frying pan, in the oven or on the grill until they are fully cooked. Allow the chicken to cool before slicing thinly.





Thinly slice:

3 shallots


Cook with a bit of olive oil until they start to soften and caramelize.

Add:

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

Season with salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat.

Assemble the pizza:

Spread pizza sauce over the naan bread, then top with the shallots and red peppers, followed by the thinly sliced chicken.

Crumble the goat cheese over the top of the pizza, and add a bit of grated mozzarella if you wish.







Place the pizzas onto a baking sheet and bake at 350F until hot, with soft gooey cheese on top.

• The tandoori masala provides all the flavour and spiciness needed for this pizza, and the goat cheese counteracts that with it's tangy creamy texture. The masala is available in most large grocery stores, or smaller ethnic stores. If you want to add to the variety of spices in your pantry, find a recipe and make your own (you might need to purchase a few different spices, but this gives you an opportunity to experiment).
• Various Indian curry pastes are available; feel free to substitute one of those. Thai red curry paste would also work well.
• Another cheese that complements the spiciness of Indian style dishes is feta cheese.
• Of course, the garlic naan bread added its own twist to the dish, but pizza crusts, pita bread or foccacia would also be fine. This type of pizza is really just an open faced sandwhich!
• If you wish to make your own pizza crusts, try the recipe in the post Grilled Pizza.
• I had quite a few shallots to be used; I would normally opt for onions when making something like this.
• Roasted, or fresh, cherry tomatoes add a juicy burst of sweetness, but I had none. Next time!
• I did use canned pizza sauce. I have also mixed tomato paste with tandoori masala to taste, and a bit of water to thin it out. If you are using a curry paste, spread a thin amount of that over the crust, or mix it into tomato paste.
• Top the pizza with shredded spinach as soon as it comes out of the oven. The spinach will wilt, and add colour and another vegetable to your meal. If you want to add it before baking, I suggest wilting it, squeezing out as much moisture as you can and roughly chopping it. Adding it fresh before baking allows the moisture to come out of the spinach, and you can end up with a soggy pizza.
• Leftover curry or butter chicken can be shredded up and used in place of the tandoori chicken. Use some of the sauce as your pizza sauce.
• Cold leftovers make great breakfast in our house, as well as heated for lunch.