I am one of those moms who want my kids to learn cooking. I do not expect them to cook any elaborate dishes if they don’t wish to, but atleast they should be able to feed themselves some fresh homemade food. I have been giving Ishaan little jobs in the kitchen whenever I can. He now gets excited when I ask him for “help”.
Few days back we had a get together and we planned for make-your-own pizza for kids. I took the base, another friend got sauces and toppings. We rolled the bases and gave them their individual small bases. They cut them into different shapes with big cookie cutters, added whatever they wanted on the pizza. We baked the pizzas for them. They all were thrilled. Ishaan is huge fan of this idea. Since then he has been asking me to make pizzas every week.
This time I thought of making it a little different. We baked them in cupcakes. I did not know how they would come out. Ishaan loved to put sauce, toppings and cheese on them. They came out so delicious. Both the kids loved to eat them for dinner and they even took them in lunchboxes next day. I may make regularly now instead of normal pizzas. Pictorial: Brush a cupcake pan with butter. Line each cup with pizza base.
Brush the base with butter and cover and let it rise for another 30mins. Bake in preheated oven at 400F for 6mins.
Add the sauce (I used a mix of marinara and basil pesto) and toppings.
Top with cheese and bake at 400F for 15mins. I took them out of the pan and baked them for another 7mins.
Pizza cupcakes
Ingredients
- For pizza dough
- 1 pack active dry yeast
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups whole wheat flour I use multigrain atta
- 2 and 1/2 cups approx all purpose flour
- 1 tbl spn butter
- 1 tea spn honey
- 1 tea spn dired oregano
- Olive oil
- Salt
- For topping
- Sauce
- Corn
- Bellpepper
- Tomato
- Paneer marinated in chilli powder and salt and then fried
- Mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Take 1/2 cup lukewarm water and add honey, yeast to it.
- Leave it aside till it becomes frothy (yeast gets active).
- Now add remaining water, salt, wheat flour, oregano, melted butter and mix. (I sue stand mixer for this).
- Gradually add remaining flour till the mixture comes into a dough but still very sticky.
- Now take the dough on a floured surface and knead for a min.
- Put the dough in a big bowl (I just use the stand mixer bowl), add 1-2 tea spns olive oil and move the dough around to coat with oil.
- Leave the bowl covered till it doubles in volume (around 1 and 1/2 to 2 hrs.
- Now punch the dough down to remove all the air.
- Make small balls and roll them into rounds (as thick as stuffed paratha).
- Brush cupcake pan with butter.
- Now line each cup with the dough, brush with oil/butter, cover with a wet towel or plastic wrap and leave for about 30mins.
- Preheat the oven for 400F (I keep a pizza stone in the middle rack, the stone helps to get crispy crust) , Keep the pan in hot oven and bake for about 5-6mins (I didn’t want the dough becoming too soggy, so baked for few mins).
- For the sauce, I used a mix of marinara sauce and basil pesto, use any desired sauce.
- I microwaved the frozen corn and bellpepper cut into small pieces for about 1 mins.
- I marinated paneer in chilli powder, salt and then shallow fried for few minutes.
- Now add a tea spn of sauce in each cup, add corn, bellpepper, paneer, top with cheese and bake at 400F for 15mins.
- I then removed the cupcakes from pan and bake them on the pizza stone for another 7-8mins.
Pizza cupcakes
Ingredients
- For pizza dough
- 1 pack active dry yeast
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups whole wheat flour I use multigrain atta
- 2 and 1/2 cups approx all purpose flour
- 1 tbl spn butter
- 1 tea spn honey
- 1 tea spn dired oregano
- Olive oil
- Salt
- For topping
- Sauce
- Corn
- Bellpepper
- Tomato
- Paneer marinated in chilli powder and salt and then fried
- Mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Take 1/2 cup lukewarm water and add honey, yeast to it.
- Leave it aside till it becomes frothy (yeast gets active).
- Now add remaining water, salt, wheat flour, oregano, melted butter and mix. (I sue stand mixer for this).
- Gradually add remaining flour till the mixture comes into a dough but still very sticky.
- Now take the dough on a floured surface and knead for a min.
- Put the dough in a big bowl (I just use the stand mixer bowl), add 1-2 tea spns olive oil and move the dough around to coat with oil.
- Leave the bowl covered till it doubles in volume (around 1 and 1/2 to 2 hrs.
- Now punch the dough down to remove all the air.
- Make small balls and roll them into rounds (as thick as stuffed paratha).
- Brush cupcake pan with butter.
- Now line each cup with the dough, brush with oil/butter, cover with a wet towel or plastic wrap and leave for about 30mins.
- Preheat the oven for 400F (I keep a pizza stone in the middle rack, the stone helps to get crispy crust) , Keep the pan in hot oven and bake for about 5-6mins (I didn’t want the dough becoming too soggy, so baked for few mins).
- For the sauce, I used a mix of marinara sauce and basil pesto, use any desired sauce.
- I microwaved the frozen corn and bellpepper cut into small pieces for about 1 mins.
- I marinated paneer in chilli powder, salt and then shallow fried for few minutes.
- Now add a tea spn of sauce in each cup, add corn, bellpepper, paneer, top with cheese and bake at 400F for 15mins.
- I then removed the cupcakes from pan and bake them on the pizza stone for another 7-8mins.
My almost 6 years old goes through food phases where he wants to eat same thing over and over again, after few days he is completely done with that dish. I try to enjoy the excitement while it lasts!. Right now he is in chicken-chapati phase. Anytime I ask him what he wants, that is what he says. I try to keep a check on it by making it once a week and not more. So I thought it was time to post this chicken in tomato gravy recipe.
My almost 2 year old is in terrible-twos. So making anything elaborate is hard. So I pick dishes (or come up with dishes) that take as less time as possible. This is a very simple chicken gravy I have been making from last few years. It literally takes 20mins to make (not including marinating time).
Pictorial: Marinate chicken. Fry onions, ginger-garlic. Then add all spices. Add tomatoes and cook till they are mushy. Add chicken and cook till done.
Chicken in Tomato Gravy
Ingredients
- 1 lb approx 1/2 kg chicken
- 1 cup onions
- 1 cup tomatoes
- 1 tea spn grated or crushed ginger
- 1 tea spn grated or crushed garlic
- 2 tbl spns yogurt curd
- 1 tea spn cumin powder
- 1 tea spn coriander powder
- 1 tea spn garam masala
- A pinch turmeric
- 1 tea spn chilli powder
- 3-4 cloves
- 2 " cinnamon
- 2 tbl spns chopped coriander leaves
- Oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Add little salt, chilli powder, yogurt(curd), turmeric to chicken pieces and leave around for 30mins (or more).
- Heat oil and add cloves, cinnamon.
- Then add onions, ginger, garlic, salt (chicken already has salt, so be careful while adding more here).
- Fry till the onions and translucent and then add all dry masalas - cumin powder, coriander powder and garam masala.
- Fry for few minutes till nice aroma comes out. Take care for to burn them.
- Add the tomatoes and let them cook till they are mushy.
- Now add marinated chicken and fry for 2-3 minutes.
- Pour about 1 cup water, cover and let it cook till chicken is done.
- Take off the heat and garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve hot with chapatis or rice.
