Peri Peri Chicken & Charred Peppers Pizza

Peri Peri chicken and charred pepper flatbread perfect for pizza nights or simply serve them to your guests at your fancy BBQ parties as I did. Charred peppers, chicken and onions tossed in Peri Peri sauce, mozzarella cheese and a drizzle of basil oil.

The pizza party at home continues as we are big time pizza loves, its third time in a week that I have baking a pizza. We usually like our pizza vegan but this it was a peri peri chicken pizza, the thought of this pizza happened last week when we had our anniversary BBQ party. That little spiciness from peri peri made my guest go week on their knees. Use your imagination and go wild on toppings tossed in peri peri sauce, for my vegan guest it was charred peppers corn and broccoli and needless to say they loved it so so much. When we were planning our bbq menu I wanted to serve my guests Peri Peri Chicken pizza, VK did not approve of this as was planning to serve my guests something which I had not tried before but it turned out to be one heck of a pizza so delicious.

Peri peri also known as African Birds Eye chilli and the sauce finds its origin in Portuguese. I happen to spot some gorgeous looking red chillies at the farmers market and could resist picking them up as I wanted to try my hands on making peri peri sauce, I used these spice local chilies as it is difficult to source African Chillies. The finished sauce turned out to be spicy, lemony, tangy and so addictive, the sauce is super easy to make to make and requires a few pantry staples except for the chillies. You can use it for your stir fries or as marinades for your kebabs and hey can you believe I used it as a sauce on my pizza and it turned out to be mind blowing one. Even VK who is not much of a pizza person loved it and polished off the entire pizza, otherwise he just eats a slice or two.

For this pizza I used my thin crust pizza recipe which never fails to deliver, crisp on the edges and perfectly baked on the middle exactly the way I like. The best part here is that you can make the dough well in advance and refrigerate & make your toppings well ahead which saves a lot of time and you can enjoy. To make this super delicious Charred Peppers & Chicken Peri Peri Flatbread you simple need to roll out a pizza base, spread some peri peri and pizza sauce, sprinkle sufficient mozzarella cheese then top with some charred peppers, cooked chicken and onions. Ready for the oven, bake, slice and simply enjoy that little heat from peri peri sauce and then that cheesiness from mozzarella. Sprinkle a little basil oil on flatbread before serving. I had made vegetarian version as well for my guests wherein I had used charred peppers corn and broccoli tossed in peri peri sauce as my toppings, the rest remains the same.

Now for the toppings I used chicken breasts thinly chopped, red onion and peppers which were charred on open flame then thinly sliced. Chicken onion mixture is marinated in peri peri sauce and then stir fried on high heat which will take about say about 5 minutes. Once the mixture is cooked add the sliced peppers and give a good toss, remove from fire and set aside till ready to use and this can be done well ahead of time. I have used a mixture of peri peri and pizza sauce as a base sauce and the peri peri gives that firey punch in every bite. You can always go ahead and adjust the combination of peri peri and pizza sauce according to your heat level tolerance. I like my a little hot J. So my lovely go ahead and make it now and ditch your pizza delivery.

“There’s nothing like
a good homemade pizza”

Sharing the recipe :

Ingredients

For the dough

· 2.5 cups all purpose flour

· 1 teaspoon active dry yeast

· 1 teaspoon sugar

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 1/3 cup warm water

· 2 tablespoon olive oil

For the toppings

· I chicken breast washed properly and thinly sliced

· 1 large red onion cut into thick slices

· 1 red bell pepper

· 1 yellow bell pepper

· 3 cloves garlic chopped fine

· ¼ cup peri peri sauce for stir fry + 4 tbsp for the spreading on the base

· 2 tbsp pizza sauce

· Grated mozzarella cheese

· Basil Oil for the sprinkling on top (recipe shared below)

Directions for peri peri chicken and veggies

· Coat the peppers with olive oil and char them on open flame, once done set aside to cool and remove the charred skin and slice them thinly. Don’t be tempted to wash the peppers under running water as you will lose all the charred flavor.

· While the peppers are roasting we shall marinate our chicken and onion with peri peri sauce, set aside for 10 minutes

· Now heat a pan add olive oil, add the chopped garlic and fry till brown. Add the marinated chicken, cook on high heat for about 5 minutes till done. Now add the chopped peppers and give a good
toss. Set aside till required.

For the pizza dough

· In a bowl add yeast, sugar and warm water, mix with a spoon. Let it stand for 10 minutes till the yeast is frothy.

· Take a large bowl add flour, add salt and mix well. Now add olive oil and give a good mix.

· Next add the yeast to the flour and knead till it comes in a form of dough. You may add some more warm water if required for kneading process.

· Remove the dough from bowl and transfer onto a floured surface. Knead till smooth and elastic may take about say about 2 – 3 minutes.

· Transfer the dough to a greased bowl.
Keep covered in a warm place for about 45 minutes to an hour until double in size.

· Once the dough has risen, punch it back. Divide it into four balls.

· Since I wanted thin crust got 5 pizza base (7 inch each)

· Using a fork prick the base and slide the base into baking tray and bake for 3 – 4 minutes. Remove and keep aside.

Assembling the pizza

. Preheat the oven to 240 degrees C. Let the baking tray get heated as well.

· Take a ball of the pizza dough and roll it till you get the desired thickness. Using a fork prick the base and slide the base onto the baking tray.

· Spread 1 tbsp peri peri sauce and ½ tsp pizza sauce.

· Sprinkle a generous amount of mozzarella cheese.

· Spread the prepared chicken, onion and pepper mix.

· Slide the baking tray into the oven and bake for 12 – 14 minutes and then turn to grill mode and grill further for 5 minutes till you get a well baked flatbread with crisp edges.

· Drizzle with basil oil, cut into desired slices and enjoy with some chilled beer.

For basil oil –

Take 1 cup fresh basil and ½ cup good quality olive oil. Blend till the ingredients are completely pureed. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve. Heat a pan and allow the mixture to boil for a minute on slow flame, remove from heat and set aside till use.

Thanks so much,