Thai Curry Pizza – Long Beach Style

TobyRecipes, ,

In my twenties I lived in Long Beach California and one of the things I miss most was the variety of different food spots. One of the most memorable dishes for me was Thai Curry Pizza! No such thing exists where I currently live, so this is my version using yellow curry paste.

Delish

Ingredients. Get them together.

  • 1 -4 oz jar of Yellow Curry Paste
  • 1 Coconut milk (not lite)
  • Avocado oil spray or PAM
  • 1-2 Tbsp fresh grated Ginger
  • 2 Tbsp fresh grated turmeric
  • 1-2 Tbsp lemon grass (I used the tube kind)
  • 4-6 kaffir lime leaves roughly torn
  • 1-2tbsp fish sauce (this really ties it together)
  • 1 block firm tofu
  • 1 pizza dough from my local PizzaMania
  • 1/2 medium white onion
  • 1/2 bell pepper (any color)
  • 1-2 tsp crushed Red Pepper (Or Thai chilli)

Preparation: To make things easy on myself I like to do the toppings preparation first. I start with frying the tofu and chopping the onions and bell pepper into thin slices. I also chop up fresh or dried Thai chilies from my garden. Store bought is still good.

PREP!

Start by pressing your tofu. You want a good firm tofu. I press mine for at least 30 minutes before frying and it usually ends up about being half as tall as before.. Cut into strips. Spray with avocado oil or Pam. Air fry at 400° for ~20min. What we’re looking for is a bit of a crunchy outside but not being too crispy. This way when we put it on the pizza it doesn’t turn to mush. Do this first.

Chop your onion and bell pepper. You want these to be roughly a quarter inch thick at the most. If it’s too big it won’t cook correctly or might cause excess moisture leading to soggy pizza. Also take your fried tofu sticks and slice them between a quarter and half an inch thick. I only really used a quarter of an onion and a quarter of a bell pepper. Set this aside.

Making the curry sauce is not a difficult task. Open the can of coconut milk and curry paste and add it to your pot. Mix it together well. Add the turmeric, ginger, garlic, lemon grass, and lime leaves. Fish sauce to taste. Bring to a boil on high then simmer on low for 10min. Remove the lime leaves when curry thickens a little. This is your pizza sauce!

Preheat the pan in your oven. Set it to 500°. When the oven reaches 500, take the cast iron pan out and set it on top of your stove. Coat your pan in olive oil. Now we get to assemble the pizza.

Do your best to spin the pizza dough so it’s the width of your pan. When you place it in the hot cast iron pan you’re going to hear it sizzle from the oil. This is fine; no rush. Take a ladle or a spoon and place the sauce in the middle of the rolled out dough and spread it in a spiral going outwards. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Add a thin layer of mozzarella cheese. Add your toppings and make sure to space them out a bit so things don’t get too crowded. Coat with even more cheese!

BAKE!

Bake it at 500° for ~15min or until the crust starts to darken and the cheese bubbles.

Take it out of the oven! It’s done!

It’s beautiful and lovely. And it’s freaking delicious hot or cold.

Thanks for reading!