Thai Chick-Un Pizza

Have I mentioned that one of my new favourite cookbooks is Eat, Drink & Be Vegan? There's a photo of this Thai Chick-Un Pizza on the back cover of the book and it's been tempting me for quite a while. I love when pizzas have sauces other than tomato sauce - this one has peanut sauce. And for toppings, lots of yummy things! Chickpeas, red pepper, pineapple, green onions, and snow peas. Next time I'd add the recommended cilantro and peanuts as well.

I know I've mentioned before how much I love peanut sauce, and how I found "the" peanut sauce but I think I've found a second "the" peanut sauce. This one is seriously amazing. I've never had a peanut sauce with ketchup in it. I think there's enough sauce and toppings to make 2 pizzas, as I found that this one was quite overflowing with stuff so next time I'll split it up. Oh and I almost forgot to mention the whole wheat pizza crust I used here! You can split the dough into 2 to make 2 thin crust pizzas, or make one thicker one (which is what I did). I've made whole wheat pizza crust before, but never had such a soft dough. I really liked this recipe and will try it again, and try it thin crust style next time.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Pad Thai
Tofu and Broccolini in Peanut Sauce
Szechuan Tofu Triangles in Triple Pepper Sauce
Fresh Pear and Curry Pasta

Thai Chick-Un Pizza
Adapted from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan

Peanut Sauce
2/3 cup natural peanut butter
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 large cloves garlic, quartered
1 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
1/4 cup soy milk
2 tsp honey (I didn't have agave but use agave to make it vegan)

1 10-12 inch whole wheat pizza shell (see recipe below)

1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 red bell pepper, diced
3/4 cup fresh pineapple, chopped (I used drained canned pineapple chunks)
3/4 cup snow peas, chopped
1/2 cup green onions, sliced
peanuts, chopped (garnish)
fresh cilantro leaves (garnish)

To prepare peanut sauce:
In a food processor, add peanut butter, ketchup, rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and honey, and puree until smooth (add 1-2 tbsp water to thin is desired - sauce should be thick enough to spread on pizza and not runny).

Preheat the oven to 500F. Line a pizza pan with parchment or oil the pizza pan. Roll or stretch the ball of dough to fit your pizza pan. Bake just the crust for 5 minutes. Take crust out of the oven. (Note: If you're not using this crust, then omit this step of prebaking the crust, and just bake the pizza for 17-20 minutes.)

Spread peanut sauce evenly on pizza shell. In a bowl, lightly flatten chickpeas with a large spoon (or in palm of your hand), and distribute evenly over sauce. Distribute bell pepper, pineapple and snow peas evenly. Bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on crust thickness), sprinkling on green onions for last minute of cooking, until the crust is golden and toppings have heated through. Serve sprinkled with chopped peanuts and cilantro if desired.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
Adapted from Marla on AllRecipes.com

1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
3-3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.

Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in 3 cups of whole wheat flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a floured surface and add the other 1/2 cup whole wheat flour as needed. Knead until the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.