Pizza the Neapolitan Cuisine

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Pizza the Neapolitan Cuisine (Greco- Roman period food) got popular globally by migrating Italians to other countries as a means of sharing their cultures to the natives. It is a highly accessible dish and can be tailored to adjust the local tastebuds allowing unlimited variations. It is rich, but complete food often cooked with simple ingredients. 

 

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In Pakistan don’t think any Italians migrated and introduced Pizza.But In early 90s the influx of returning Pakistani families from Gulf Countries after the war brought the demand for pizza since they have been consuming it from the many international pizza chains. Since then, every other day we have new pizza chains coming up, bakeries have their own versions, restaurants have it on their menu, and people love to bake them at home filling it with the endless topping of their choice. 

 So, in my persuit of cooking healthy tasteful and varied meals, I started experimenting with different styles of Vegetable pizza.

The rule of thumb when I am cooking is more vegetable, specially the green leafy ones, wholewheat/whole grain carbohydrate, low or reduced fat dairy, minimum possible additives and food colors and packaged products. Keeping these in mind I have put together the ingredients for vegetable pizza often stacking with a medley of crunchy vegetable on wholewheat thin crust topped with preferably reduced fat mozarella.  I generally use less cheese topping, you might want to use more.

Unlike Newyork where wholewheat pizza dough is common on super market shelves, we don’t get it so easily in Karachi.  Thankful to Necos whole food store for making wholewheat pizza dough for me.  It can be easily made at home well. Nonetheless, the ready to roll dough from Necos made my life easy.

Following the guidelines from Dr. Maya Adams, from Stanford University, she is teaching Cooking and Child Nutrition course that I am currently enrolled in, I made the pizza sauce instead of using one off the super market shelf. We will be safe from chemical preservatives and artificial colors with homemade pizza sauce, it is easy and can be adjusted as per our taste and available ingredients.

Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:

½ KG- ripe red tomatoes

1 medium onion

1 tbsp chopped or paste garlic

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp brown sugar

1 tsp mixed Italian herb (Basil, Oregano, Thyme)

¼ tsp red chillies or ½ tsp red chillie flakes

Can also use chopped green chillies

1 tbs olive oil

Instructions:

-Chop tomatoes and onions.

- In a pan sauté onions in olive oil until and then add garlic and sauté until transparent

-add tomatoes, salt, sugar, chillies and let cook until mushy

- now puree it with a hand beater/motorized smoothie maker/or blend in a blender and put back in the pan. You can leave it chunky if you want, taste equally good.

- stir in the corn flour and herbs until completely blended

- simmer for 2 more minutes and let cool before spreading on the crust.

Pizza Toppings:

There are no set ingredient for this, however, my suggestion is to experiment with more leafy green vegetable since they are nutrient dense. Vegetable in any combination and quantity can be used, following are my favourite and I often top my vegetable pizza from this list sometime all of it:

-       Spinach, just removed their stems and leave the whole leaves

-       Mustard (Methi saag)

( wash and rub a bit of lemon juice, black pepper/lemon pepper and olive oil on leafy greens

-       Sliced mushrooms

-       Capsicum

-       Sundried tomatoes

-       Onions

-       Olives

-       Pickled jalapeno

Putting it all together:

Roll the wholewheat pizza dough on a pizza pan, and spread the sauce, top with green leafy vegetable and then on top of it rest of the vegetable. Finally top with shredded mozzarella cheese, try to use the reduced fat cheese if you can find it. The pizza is generally done in 15 minutes on high in the medium shelf of the oven. I also often bake the pizza on outdoor grill, taste awesome.

Vegetable Soups

 Vegetable based soups are healthy, nutritious and good for weight watchers

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Soups are light, healthy and nutritious food, specially the vegetable based ones are low in calories. Vegetable soups are great even during the summers, many taste great colder, chilled or at room temperature. Packed with valuable  goodness of nature, vegetable soups offer a high nutrient density with a low energy density - this means that we get lots of key nutrients including vitamins and minerals for relatively few calories.

In persuit of creating healthier meals and for maximum benefits from vegetables, I experimented cooking different vegetable based soups. They turned out pretty good, great texture and flavours combined together in palatable and of course without adding calories and adding vital vitamins and minerals in diet.

Mostly I serve the soups with toasted multigrain bread with or without Olive butter, or sandwiches and wraps made with grilled fish/chicken and raw vegetable, over wholewheat multigrain bread pr pita/roti, and fresh cut vegetable salads with a light dressing. These soups and sandwiches meals are a filling afternoon snack,  pack it for office lunch, brunch on Sundays, light evening meal, sides at big dinners or lunches. 

 

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The bakery at the Hyperstar Karachi bakes a selection of great tasting artisan whole loaves.

Here are some important tips on ingredients, note that the calorie count changes with the addition and deletion, or replacement of ingredients.

-       Many recipe calls for stock, I used vegetable stocks, sometime Knorr Chicken Cubes, mostly home made chicken broth and for many recipes completely omitted it out and used plain water.

-       In cream soups, I used reduced/low fat light cream, and got some delicious results using Lebaneh also referred to as greek yogurt, soft cheese.

-       For garnishing I used toasted peanuts, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds as well.

-       Please note that all the dullops of extra cream/labnah/sour cream, or tossing the seeds also add calories.

 Some well tested Recipes

Broccoli Soup

  1- Cream of Broccoli Soup:

Ingredients

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 1/2 pounds fresh broccoli

1 large onion, chopped

2 Tbs chopped garlic or roasted garlic flakes

2 big tomatoes, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Red Chillie Flakes

4 cups home made chicken broth chicken/vegetable

Directions

• Heat oil in heavy medium pot over medium-high heat.
• Add broccoli, onion, garlic and saute until onion is translucent, about 6 minutes.
• Now add broccoli
• Add stock and bring to boil.
• Simmer uncovered until broccoli is tender, about 15 minutes.
• Pour in cream (optional if you simple broccoli soup don’t add cream/lebaneh).
• With an immersion blender, puree the soup.
•  Add salt, to taste, and the pepper.
• Replace the lid back on the pot.
• Serve hot garnished with sour cream/lebaneh and toasted seeds.
•  Toasted multigrain bread makes it a complete meal.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

African Peanut Soup

2- African Peanut Soup:

Ingredients: 

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil


 medium sized onions, chopped


2 large red or green peppers, chopped


6 garlic cloves, minced
1

6 big crushed tomatoes


4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth/Knorr chicken cube


1 teaspoon fresh pepper

1/2 teaspoon chili powder


2/3 cup extra crunchy natural peanut butter


1 tablespoon fresh corriander  
 

Instructions: 

1.              Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook onions and bell peppers until lightly browned and tender, adding in garlic at the end to keep from burning.

2.              Stir in tomatoes and their liquid, the vegetable broth, pepper, and chili powder. Reduce heat to low, uncover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

3.              Stir in peanut butter and corriander until well blended, and serve garnished with toasted peanuts and corriander.

Makes:   4 - 6 servings

Butternut Squash (use same recipe for pumpkin soup, zucchini, or loki)

Ingredients:

•               1KG Butternut squash/pumpkin. peeled and cubed
•             2 medium onions
•          6 cloves garlic (optional)
•         2 Tbsp. butter or vegetable oil
•      1/2 tsp. salt plus more to taste
•      8 cups chicken or vegetable broth

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Preparation:

1.              Halve, seed, peel, and cube the butternut squash. Set aside.

2.              Halve, peel, and chop the onion. Mince the garlic, if you like.

3.              Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the butter or oil and the chopped onion. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, about 3 minutes.

4.              Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

5.              Add the squash and the broth. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until the squash is very tender, about 20 minutes.

6.              Transfer small batches to a blender. Or use a smoothy blender to puree

7.              Add more salt and pepper to taste.

8-       Serve with  a dullop of sour cream and toasted pumpkin seeds

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Butternut Soup

 

Vegetable bean and pasta soup-A healthy one pot meal

Just Eat Right-Do Not Diet

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 Just Eat Right.....Dont Diet

We often hear people talking about dieting.

They are discussing how to make a diet plan for themselves. Make a new year resolution to loose weight.  Share medical reports for high blood sugar or cholesterol and try to follow a diet, figuring out what to eat?

But what is diet anyway? My answer mostly is, it is nothing, a self-deception. Even if we develop that courage and will power to go on a diet, it is like a time based medical treatment or therapy. Once we reach our goals, we go back to same unhealthy eating pattern and put on all those pounds, fats and sugar back.

There is only ‘healthy eating’ or ‘un-healthy eating’, nothing in between. “Dieting’ does not exist.

We will loose weight only if we follow a healthy lifestyle and eating habits. All this can only happen if we stop this obsession with dieting and just focus on eating healthy forever.

Unfortunately when we take one of our colleagues to the hospital emergency as they suffer a sudden cardiac seizure, help mom check her blood sugar or return back all gloomy after the burial of a dear uncle who passed away during a cancer treatment, we don’t believe that it can be us in the same situation one day.

We continue with our endless desire to feed our taste buds without thinking what all those unhealthy food is doing to our bodies.

We constantly make excuses for eating high-carb, cholesterol laden, oil drenched meals, ordering from every new fast food chain. We forget to drink water and are too busy for workouts.

In the name of gourmet eating we keep frying our food and order the same at restaurants. Add sugar, salt to our food and go for refined grains.

We find raw vegetable bland and cumbersome to eat but love to eat expensive cuts of steaks as often as we want because we can afford, adding sides of potatoes justifying it as vegetable.

We want to keep the tradition alive and eat curries bathed in ghee, organ meat and mouth watering fried parathas and pooris. We love to juice all our fruits destroying their fibre, and then complain for various gastro-intestinal discomforts.

We forget that our bones are leeched of the important calcium as we drink cans after cans of sodas.

Eating this way clearly leads to malnutrition, yes we are not getting the right nutrient in the right amount that makes us malnutrition individuals at high risk of developing many disease.

Malnutrition does not only mean the starving population of sub-Saharan areas shown in Carter’s award-winning photo.

Any one of us can be suffering from malnutrition with that belly fat and unhealthy eating habits which lead to different disease, ranging from obesity, cancer, cardio vascular complications, diabetes, GI tract complications. 

So what needs to be done?

-       Get your medical check up, blood profile, X-rays and all if you are above 40

-       Getting a Vitamin D and Calcium levels tests are crucial for all ages in Pakistani population, since these play an important role in body functions

-       Find out if you are overweight or within normal range

-       Smoking plays a key role in your mortality and health, don’t even think, just quit if you smoke

-       Establish the daily calorie requirement for your age, height, weight. The many online fitness apps can help you with this.

-       Then plan your daily meals choosing food according to your health condition.

Lifestyle Modifications:

-       Exercise, walk, jog play, any kind of physical activity is the foundation for a healthy body

-       Quit drugs and smoking choice between live longer and healthy or smoke and die young

-       Reduce the screen time on TV and computers

-       Limit caffeine intake in the form of Tea and Coffee

-       Cocaine and Sugar are same, both create craving and are addictive, bad for health. Cut down completely on sweets to just once in a while.

-       Quit eating all any processed food/snacks from packets, boxes and tins.

-       Replace all sodas with water (64 ounces a day)

-       Eat your fruits, don’t drink them, by juicing your fruits, you are depriving yourself from the valuable fibre that helps your digestion.

-       Don’t eat late night and don't go to bed right after dinner.

According to the guidelines for healthy eating by Harvard Medical School:

Your meal plate should be half filled with fruits and vegetable, preferably uncooked, steamed or sauted. Then quarter plate should be some whole grains, like wheat bread, chapattis and brown rice. Another quarter of you meal plate will have a healthy protein that can include, beans, lentils, poultry and fish. Avoid red meat and if at all you want to eat them it need not be more then twice a month. Choose fats wisely, using very limited quantity of oils, like olive, canola, soy, corn, sunflower, peanut. Very little or no butter and completely exclude transfat and semi-hydrogenated fats. Limit the dairy products to one serving a day that are with low or zero fats.

Remember the change in the diet and lifestyle go hand in hand for  health and wellness. Life is a gift from god and you are send to the world with a purpose, your friends and family love you and need you. So make an effort to stay healthy, live a long disease free life.