Low Calorie Pizza Base

I have come across many recipes using cauliflower as rice. I tried it and I do not like it as cauliflower is a bit bitter… While many of my Weightwatcher friends like it, I beg to differ. Being Asian, I like my rice to be rice, and not something else.  I also tried making cauliflower fried rice. It was a bit better and I had to season it heavily and cooked it really thoroughly and charred it well so as to hide the bitterness. It was a little bit more acceptable.

I have tried making cauliflower pizza base before and it tasted ok. Still there was some bitter taste. The recipe I tried had a lot of seasoning like herbs, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, eggs, and lots more. It was very complex.

So I made my pizza base simpler. I added pumpkin or butternut squash to counter the bitterness and it gives a better colour, like flour pizza. Well normal pizza base is simple, just flour, yeast, salt and water. There is no need to make things complicated.

I made the base using a square baking sheet, about 30cm x 21cm. You can shape it round like a normal pizza.

I squeezed out the water after micro-waving the base ingredients so that it is not soggy.

You can use any toppings you like.

I topped it with whatever ingredients that I had on hand. So  I used frozen cooked prawns, onions, peppers and basil leaves from my almost dying basil plant by the window sill which I bought about 2 months ago.

Since I was not bothered to make my own pizza sauce, I just used tomato sauce!! Gasps!! But it worked just as well.

Making the base takes quite a bit of time so I suggest you make double or even quadruple and save some for another day.

The baking parchment makes handling the pizza base easier.

Here is the recipe:

 Quick Info:

Serves: 1 as a meal

Difficulty: moderate

Cost: £

Time: about 40 minutes

Pro points:

Per recipe:

Per serving:

Ingredients:

½ Small head cauliflower – grated or uses food processor.

You will need about 2 cups or approximately 400g

150g Butternut squash or pumpkin, remove skin and grated as the cauliflower.

1 ball Low fat mozzarella cheese- approximately 125g nett weight

– ¼ for the base and the rest as topping.

1 small Egg – beaten

You will need a tea-towel to squeeze the water out.

Topping

½ Sweet pepper- sliced

½ Red onion – sliced

A handful Cooked prawns thawed

1-2 tbsp. Tomato sauce or BBQ sauce or whatever sauce you like

Or anything you have in your kitchen

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Fresh basil leaves or other herbs

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C, gas Mk  6.
2. Place the grated vegetable in a micro-waveable bowl. Depending on your microwave oven, microwave for 3-4 minutes. Stir and microwave again for another 3 to 4 minutes until cooked through. Stir and set aside to cool.
3. Meanwhile, you can prepare the topping ingredients.

5. 

6. 

7. Finely shred ¼ of the mozzarella. Reserve the rest for the topping.
8. When the vegetables are cooled, place it in a tea-towel and squeeze out as much water as you can. You will need to do this in batches.
9. In a bowl, mix the vegetables with the egg (I actually used ½ an egg). Add in about ¼ of the mozzarella Season with salt and pepper.
10. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and spread the vegetables evenly and press to compact it. (You can shape it in a circle like a normal pizza).
11. Bake it in an oven gas Mk 6 for about 10-15 minutes.
12. Remove from the oven. Place a chopping board or another baking sheet over it and flip it over. Remove the baking parchment and re-line the baking sheet with it.
13. Carefully slide the pizza base back to the baking sheet. Bake for another 10 minutes or so. This will make it crisper.

14. 

    Baked thin pizza base

15. Remove from the oven, and spread with the tomato sauce, or whatever you are using. Then scatter the rest of the ingredients evenly on it. Place it back in the oven for about 10 minutes.
16. Remove  from oven and topped with some fresh basil, if you have. Spray some olive oil on it and cut into pieces and serve.

P.S

I made some more today and shaped one of the base to round shape. This works just as well.