Vegan Pizza Mofo Post 12!
Ethiopian food is so close to Indian food. It is strange that I haven’t tried my hand at it yet. Well, what better time than right now as a Pizza. Ethiopian veggie options at the restaurants here usually have a couple of lentil/bean/pea stew options. some vegetable dishes(cabbage, okra, collard greens), served on and with Injeras. Injera is a spongy flatbread made of overly fermented Teff flour batter. To complement the Missir Wat / Wot (Red lentil stew), I decided to make a crust with Teff.
The lentil stew is thick and spiced just enough to intrigue all the taste buds. The stew can be served as is with dinner rolls on a cold night. The crust is beautiful, soft and sturdy.
I picked up a bunch of different flours and spices on the weekend to keep my creative juices flowing. I have never baked with Teff before and never used Berbere spice blend as well. Like Indian cuisine, Berbere spice blend is a deep earthy sweet and spicy blend. The heat comes after you have eaten a couple of bites. 🙂
There are several variations of the berbere spice recipe on the interwebz, so I decided to pick up some from our nearby World spice market. Their blend contains Ajwain(carom seeds), Cloves, Fenugreek, Ginger powder, Tellicherry Black Pepper, Cassia, Cardamom, Coriander and Pequin chilies.
Ajwain is used in Indian cuisine in flatbreads(parathas) and pickles, fenugreek in curries and pickles, cardamom on desserts and curries. So I know all of these spices individually and that takes away from the usual fear of trying out something completely new.
Have you eaten Ethiopian food? What do you like best about it.
Since Teff is glutenfree, I decided to keep the crust wheat free as well. You can use any crust posted earlier this month like the regular with gluten chewy White crust or Whole wheat crust, or the Glutenfree Oat focaccia crust.
As with all my gf breads, to keep them soft, non crackly and spongy
– keep the dough more like a stiff batter. if you end up with a non sticky dough, the bread will not rise.
– catch some of the moisture during baking especially for the first 10 minutes by covering the container with foil
– spray liberal amounts of water on the edges and some on the top. bake the batter for a few minutes, before loading it.
Steps:
Prep the lentil stew.
In a bowl, add warm water, yeast and sugar, Mix well and let sit for 10 minutes or until frothy.
In another bowl. mix all the flours, starches, salt, baking powder and spice if using.
Add dry to yeast mixture. Add evoo and vinegar and whisk into a smooth batter.
Let the batter sit for 1.5 -2 hours. The batter with rise and become spongy.
Mix it and drop onto parchment lined sheet.
Drizzle a teaspoon of evoo and ‘lightly’ pat down the batter into desired shape using your hands.
Spray water liberally on top.
Start up the preheat and let the crust sit near the oven or in a warm place for 10/15 minutes. you should see that the crust rises a bit.
Bake in preheated 375 degrees F for 10 minutes. Place a foil on the baking sheet without touching the top of the batter if possible, during baking.
Take crust out and load with chopped kale and then with Missir wot lentils and cheese of choice.
Spray water on the edges and bake for another 8-10 minutes.
Take pizza out, top with fresh herbs. Let sit for a minute before slicing.
Dig in
Missir Wot Pizza - Ethiopian Red lentil stew, Kale on Gluten free Teff Pizza Crust. vegan recipe
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1/3 cup (83.33 ml) water
- 1 teaspoon active yeast
- 2 teaspoons raw sugar
- 1/4 cup (30 g) teff flour
- 1/4 cup (30 g) oat flour
- 2 Tablespoons tapioca starch
- 2 Tablespoons potato starch
- 1/4 teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
- 1/8 teaspoon (0.13 teaspoon) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil evoo
- a generous pinch of cumin powder optional
Missir Wot: Whole Red lentil stew
- 1/2 cup (96 g) whole lentils sabut Masoor, brown lentils soaked for atleast 2 hours to overnight
- 2 cups (500 ml) water
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 (0.5 ) medium onion chopped
- 4-5 (4 ) garlic cloves
- 1/3 teaspoon (0.33 teaspoon) salt
- 2 teaspoons Berbere spice
Toppings:
- Chopped Kale or other greens
- Shredded vegan cheese
- Chopped cilantro or fresh herbs of choice
Instructions
- Miss wot: Whole Red lentil Stew:
- In a pressure cooker or pan, add oil and heat over low-medium.
- Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent. 10-12 minutes.
- Add the berbere spice and mix. cook for a minute.
- Add the soaked lentils, salt and water. Mix well and cook over medium for 2 whistles in whistling pressure cooker then on low for 15 minutes. ( 10 minutes after the pressure has reached for electric pressure cooker)
- If using pan, Add them to the onion mixture along with salt, water and cook on medium, partially covered until the lentils start to disintegrate. 40-45 minutes.
- Taste and adjust salt and spice, take off heat and keep ready.
- You can also use pink/red lentils for a quicker cooking time
- Crust:
- In a bowl, add warm water, yeast and sugar, Mix well and let sit for 10 minutes or until frothy.
- In another bowl. mix all the flours, starches, salt, baking powder and spice/cumin if using.
- Add dry flours to yeast mixture. Add evoo and vinegar and whisk into a smooth batter.
- Let the batter sit for 1.5 hours. The batter with rise and become spongy.
- Mix it and drop onto parchment lined sheet.
- Drizzle a teaspoon of evoo and 'lightly' pat down the batter into desired shape using your hands. Spray water liberally on top.
- (you can also make the crust in an 8 inch cake pan to make a slightly fatter and even more softer crust like this gf Oat focaccia crust.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F / 190ºc. and let the crust sit near the oven or in a warm place for 10 to 15 minutes. you should see that the crust rises a bit.
- Bake in preheated 375 degrees F / 190ºc for 10 minutes. Place a foil on the baking sheet without touching the top of the batter if possible, during baking.
- Take crust out and load with chopped kale and then Missir wot lentils and cheese of choice. I used Daiya Cheddar.
- Spray water on the edges and bake for another 8-10 minutes.
- Take pizza out, top with fresh herbs. Let sit for a minute before slicing.
- Best served hot.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi! Does this recipe appear in a cookbook?
Thank you!
NOt this one I developed the recipe in 2012, My new cookbook is almost ready for release and has some pizzas that I think you will love !!
You get 10 thumbs up for this one! Looks super delicious. Thanks.
Great post. Thank you for sharing. This will be on my to do recipe. Starting January 2016, Fassica.com will start offering 100% teff injera. You can also find Ethiopian spices.
What a creative concept! I’m a Ethiopian food newbie but it’s quickly become one of my favorite cuisines. The teff crust sounds amazing, as does the lentil wot. So amazing Richa!
This pizza is beautiful! Ethiopian is my favorite cuisine, but I’ve learned that good Ethiopian food is hard to come by. I was so spoiled by the all-vegan Ethiopian restaurant, Rahel, in Los Angeles. Since I’ve left I discovered they really had it down. Many places it’s either under-spiced and/or way too oily. This pizza looks like an absolute dream. I’ve got to get on this one!
Richa, this is ridiiiculous. I KNOW I’d love it! Matt and I both <3 Ethiopian food, and misir watt is our favorite dish.
Richa, crazy pizza lady! I am all a glee at your creativity. This pizza tastes AWESOME in my food imagination. ‘one more slice?…I don’t mind if it do!’. 🙂
What’s next? vegan lemon meringue pizza?!
I really want that pizza and I really need to go out and try some Ethiopian food. I don’t even know if I have a restaurant anywhere near me!
You are getting SO creative Richa – it is blowing me away! I’ve never actually had Ethiopian food (but have always wanted to) – I think it is high time I do so! Loving all of your pizzas this month!!
Pizza and Ethiopian food? Who knew?! You’re so creative Richa. I wonder what you’ll up come next 😉 I LOVE Ethiopian food, not a fan of injera though.
I haven’t had ethiopian food before, but I will tell you this post has made me super hungry!
Wow, this looks like such a satisfying meal, I bet it’s filling and delicious! I don’t think I’ve eaten much Ethiopian food but I have Kittee’s zine and some teff flour so I really should try some
Ooh yum! I love Ethiopian food, and this looks like a fun way to make it at home! I think my favorite thing about it is eating with my hands and that everything is so deeply seasoned.
I love how it’s expected to use your fingers to tear off injera and scoop up the lentil stews. I adore eating with my fingers. And I adore tangy injera! This looks amazing.
Another wonderfully creative pizza! Are you guys pizza’d out yet? 🙂 I don’t think I would be with all the different styles you’ve made.
Naah. not yet,:) with all the different flours and toppings, some of which are our usual food converted into pizza. its working out fine:)
That’s a cool way to eat Ethiopian food; it totally makes sense, given the way the dishes are normally presented with the injera. I’ve never actually eaten this type of cuisine, but it does sound good.
It is quite close to Indian cuisine and some of the spice blends are really delicious!
how large is the pizza is diameter? also, how does it compare to the foccaccia one? is it still “pizza-like”?
this one is really original and amazingly delicious! ethiopian stew on teff crust pizza?! amazing!!
i made ethiopian food last year. it was ok, but i don’t think the recipes i found to try were that great. i’d love to go to an ethiopian restaurant to try the real thing.
9 inches. this one is more like a regular thin-nish pizza crust. you can make it in an 8 inch cake pan, so the crust will get slightly thicker and the pan also keeps more moisture locked in compared to a baking sheet. It is s soft crust, but not as soft as the oat one, the fatter the crust, more air can be trapped to make it squishier.:)
you should try a restaurant. though the injera might not be gf( ask the restaurant if it is purely teff), but all the stews and veggies should be gf.
I decided on this simple recipe and with the spice it is quite close to the restaurant style except for the excess oil/fat 🙂
That’s an amazing pizza, such a creative idea! I adore Ethiopian food, my favourite dish is called Yeshiro Wet which is a stew made with chickpea flour.
thanks Mel!I love Ethiopian food. thats always my first choice to eat out!
You’ve done it! Or, you’ve done me in! (You choose). This one is especially gonna make me fat.
xo
kittee
Yay, thanks for dropping by Kittee:)