Zanzibar pizza

This is very popular, spicy street food from Zanzibar - sold at the night markets at Forodhani. I fell in love with it and went back again the next night to satisfy my craving. I was probably one of the few to ask for extra piri-piri (chili) 'coz he recognized us the next day and made mine with extra zing! I later saw the same guy featured in a book called "Taste of Zanzibar" at a gift store. He was so skilled at making this and I watched in awe trying to pick up some new techniques ;).



The technique used reminds me of how a South Indian bread called barota is made, which actually has more layering involved. The filling is unique - beef, vegetables and egg. There is no cheese and this is certainly not pizza as we know it ...it's topped with hot sauce or ketchup depending on how much heat you can handle. The process is slightly complicated although he made it look incredibly easy...but it is well worth the effort! I tried to do it exactly the same way and it tastes as good as I remember it!

Ingredients

Dough:
3 cups flour
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
warm water

Filling:
1/2 lb ground beef
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp oil
salt to taste

1 small carrot, minced
1 small onion, minced
1 green chili, minced
coriander springs, minced

6 eggs
6 tsp Mayonnaise
6 tsp oil + more for greasing the counter as needed


Method:

Make a well in the flour, add the oil, salt and combine. Start adding warm water and mix until it makes a smooth dough. Knead it for 5 minutes so it is elastic then make a ball, coat it with a bit of oil and let it rest in a bowl covered with plastic wrap for 1 hour or more.

To make the beef filling - heat the oil in a pan, add the garlic and saute until softened. Then add the meat and crumble with a fork at it cooks. Add the rest of the spices, salt to taste and cook till done. Turn off the heat drain on a paper towel to remove any excess grease.

Combine all the minced vegetables into another bowl. Keep the mayonnaise and the egg handy.

Divide the dough into 9 portions first. Now take 3 of them and divide them equally, roll into 6 small balls. Roll the rest of them into 6 large balls. The idea is to make a small circle and a large circle of dough for each pizza - resulting in 6 pizzas.

The dough should be stretched out by hand on a smooth, oiled surface...granite counter top works best. Take one of the small balls of dough, oil the surface lightly (too much causes the dough to slide and tear) then start stretching the dough out into a circle by using the base of your palm (or your thumb)and rotating the dough. It is actually not too difficult once you get the hang of it and it does not need to be a perfect circle. The dough should become thin and transparent all over. Now do the same with large ball of dough and it should yield a much wider circle.

Heat a non stick skillet, place the small circle in it and cook on low heat (no oil) until it starts turning opaque and slightly golden. Then turn over and do the same.
Remove this circle from the skillet and place it inside the large circle - now this acts as a base for the filling and prevents tearing...genius!

Place a large spoonful of the beef mixture in the center, followed by a spoon of the vegetable mince. Now make some room, crack an egg into it and mix with the beef using a folk. An easier option is to beat an egg in a small cup and spoon that into the beef as you combine it lightly with a fork. Add a tsp of mayonnaise on top and start pulling up the edges to hold the filling like a cup (one of those rustic pies) and place the entire pizza on a skillet (as shown in the first picture). Drizzle a tsp of oil around it and cook on low heat till it is golden and then flip and cook until done.



Serve it the eggy side up with hot sauce or ketchup on top.