I’m having a conversation with my five-year-old about whether pizza and pasta are junk food. She’s been told in school that school snacks should be healthy “like roti and subzee” she says, warning me not to stuff her snack box with the stuff that made Sophia Loren so delicioussima. We’ve gone back and forth over this a couple of times

already, so finally I pull out my comparison card — ‘pizza is like stuffed paratha, pasta is like rice or thin chapattis.’ I round it up with a concerned, ‘Would you like me to come explain that to teacher?’ The conversation is over for now, but I suspect she isn’t convinced.
Fact is pizza is as healthy as you want it to be and almost every culture has a version of the flatbread with toppings or flatbread stuffed with goodies. So this week, we’ll make some multi-culti pizza... with Indian roti and send some for teacher too.
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Lahmajun-Arrice — Minced Lamb on flatbread
Slightly varying versions of this can be found across Arab cuisines — dough, topped with mince and then baked. When made with good quality lamb mince, simply seasoned, the aromas are to die for — olive oil, warm bread, meat. Some people like to garnish the hot flatbread with fresh parsley and tomato, some leave it in the mince to cook, some use molasses or fresh pomegranate. I’m going to use the tomatoes cooked and garnish with parsley and pomegranate.

Ingredients:

8 tandoori rotis (a day old will do)
½ kilo mince
2 tomatoes (de-seeded and skinned)
2 onions (chopped very fine)
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp poppy seeds (optional)
½ tsp ajwain (optional)
½ cup of chopped parsley
½ cup of chopped mint
2 lemons

Method:
Warm a little oil in a heavy bottomed pan and put the ajwain and poppy seeds in. When they start to pop, add the onions and garlic and on a gentle heat, sweat them until the onions turn lightly gold. Raise the heat and add the mince, briskly stirring it around until it colours. Add the chopped tomatoes, some salt, a grinding of pepper if you want and the juice of one lemon.
(If you were doing this the ‘official’ way, you would sweat the onions and garlic, then mix the herbs, tomatoes, meat and lemon juice and cover rolled out discs of dough that had been brushed liberally with olive oil. Then you’d bake ‘em.)
Cook the mince on a medium flame until done (about half an hour) and just before turning the heat off, stir in the chopped herbs for maximum effect. You can process the mince to make it more finely chopped which makes it easier to spread on the naans.
Place on the rotis, garnish and serve immediately… or place under a hot grill before serving with some garlic aioli and some of those lurid pickled vegetables.

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Pizza Pie
2 cups all purpose refined flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsps fresh yeast
3/4 cup warm water
2 tbsps olive oil

Method:
Add the yeast to half the warm water, sugar and a tbsp of the flour and mix it up. Add the rest of the flours, salt and the olive oil. Knead well adding water slowly till it forms a smooth, soft, elastic dough. If you want your crust thick, divide into 4 balls. If you want it thin divide into 6 balls. Cover and let sit in a warm, dark place till they double in size. Roll each ball out to the size of your pizza pan and press lightly into your pan which has been lightly oiled and floured. Cover and leave for another 20 minutes. Prick the base, brush with olive oil, spread your sauce, add your cheeses and toppings and bake for 15-20 minutes in an oven pre-heated to 240 degrees C.

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Super Simple Sauce

Heat some olive oil with a little butter in a pan with a bay leaf. Saute finely minced onion till just browned, add some minced garlic, oregano and basil, (paprika if you want it hot), de-seeded and roughly chopped tomatoes, some chopped red or green peppers if you have them, about a cup of tomato puree, some salt and brown sugar to taste. Cook till sauced up. Turn off heat, add a bit more olive oil in raw, adjust seasonings and use as is or remove the bay leaf and blend for a smoother sauce.
You can brush this sauce on to your old naans or tandoori rotis, top with whatever you want, grate some mozzarella over and grill until the cheese melts.

Quesadillas

Q uesadillas can be filled with almost anything short of chocolate cake. This Mexican version of the pizza is usually made with corn tortillas which are easily substituted with roti. Brush with garlic and olive oil, throw in some cheese (not processed cheddar), some cooked veggies, some beans, some meat, some fresh crunchy greens (green peppers, spring onions etc.) and serve with a side of sour cream and tomato salsa or guacamole and you have a great meal.

(Try switching Mexican chorizo with goan sausage, add lots of parsley and chunks of ripe avocado — hold the cheese though.)

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Za’atar
Za’atar is one of those condiments that add a little flavour of the Middle East to anything. It’s great on roast vegetables, super on grilled fish or meat, delicious stirred into olive oil to brush on pita or in a hung yoghurt dip. Try buying some haloumi, grill it and dust it with za’atar.
The ‘real’ za’atar is made by grinding hyssop leaves and its unique taste comes from a herb called sumac. It’s not easy to get za’atar here and we usually get our year’s stock when my brother comes in for Christmas but you can successfully duplicate the flavour by substituting dried thyme for hyssop and lemon zest for sumac.

Ingredients:
4 tbsps dried thyme leaves
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 tbsps chopped parsley
1 tbsp roasted white sesame seeds

Method:
Grind all the ingredients in a spice grinder. You can store this in an airtight container for up to three months.