A cheater pizza is just minutes away, if you have some flatbread and leftover curry sauce on hand. Here are some simple tricks to scratch that pizza itch at home, with no spills or frills.

Time: 3/5
Takes a while, but a lot of steps can be done ahead of time.

Effort: 3/5
Easily a 2, if I didn’t have to make the tikka masala from scratch!

Less Fuss, More Fun

My efforts to use up a pack of flatbread initially meant for chicken fajitas inadvertently ballooned into a mini-series of quick and easy weeknight dinners. After the biang biang lamb wraps, I got interested in how else I could remix culinary traditions to create fun little recipes.

My next attempt is this … thing. A sort of cheater pizza using pre-made tortillas, topped and sauced at the same time by a quick Chicken Tikka Masala curry. I made a quick curry just for this recipe, but of course you can use leftover curry to further simplify the process.

The store bought tortillas let me sidestep all the work that goes into making a pizza base from scratch. Now, I’ve made my own pizza dough before following Adam Ragusea’s recipe, and the results were stellar. But while his method is already a step down from the traditional way to make a pizza, it’s still a lot more effort than I’m willing (or able) to give on a weeknight.

Another trick I used was to build my pizzas on pieces of parchment paper. This is really useful when you want to bake more than one pizza, as it allows you to move the pizzas around easily and mess-free. This trick will also work with traditional pizzas made with dough, so pizza party preppers please take note.

Now, a recipe is no good if it’s too hard to make. It’s fun to show off with a fancy dish every once in a while, maybe on special occasions, but I am a firm believer that a home cook’s primary aim should be to make good-enough food with as little effort as possible. 

That philosophy is the driving force behind this blog, as well as this Chicken Tikka Tortilla Pizza.

Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 5

Dramatis Personae

Served two.

• 3 tortillas

Tortillas are just what I happened to have, but this can be anything. Naan, pita, even regular bread – as long as it’s flat, it will work.

Toppings

• 100g chicken breast
• 1 tsp Garam masala
• Paprika and Kashmirilal to taste
• Sugar and salt to taste
• 50g mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 shallot
• Green onions or chives for garnish

Ideally, the chicken breast gets marinated overnight in plain yogurt and spices. One entire breast is way too much to fit onto two tortilla-sized pizzas though, so plan on having some extras that you can either snack on or use elsewhere like a salad or a rice bowl.

The shallot may seem optional, but the pungency and crunch really adds something to this otherwise simple dish. The quick broil to melt the cheese is just enough heat to take the raw edge off of the shallot, so don’t worry about it being too spicy.

For the sauce

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp Ginger paste
• 1 tsp Garlic paste
• 1 tsp Garam masala
• Paprika and Kashmirilal to taste
• Sugar and salt to taste
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 50g heavy cream

Kashmirilal is relatively mild, but I want top you to know that you can rely on paprika to give the sauce a nice red colour without adding any heat at all.

You will also notice that the list of spices is pretty simple. I’m not here to make a proper chicken tikka masala, just a quick sauce to imitate the flavour.

Executive summary

1. The night before, marinade the chicken breast. Refrigerate overnight.
2. Begin cooking by cooking chicken breast in a skillet, then reserve. Cut into small pieces.
3. In the same pan, bloom the spices, tomato paste and garlic ginger paste in some oil.
4. Add water and cream to the pan, and stir until combined. Simmer briefly. 
5. Preheat the oven to its highest temperature, with the baking sheet inside.
6. Lay down a tortilla on parchment paper, cover lightly with sauce, then with the other toppings.
7. Transfer the pizza onto the baking sheet using the parchment paper. Broil for several minutes on the highest rack for several minutes, or until cheese is melted.
8. Remove from oven, allow to cool completely, and cut into slices. Repeat with the other tortilla pizza, then serve.

Play by Play

Last things first. Massage the marinade into the chicken, and let it sit in the fridge for a couple hours. I butterflied one breast to increase the surface area, and make it easier to cook without drying it out.

The next day. Everything is set and ready. Let’s go!

Always wash your veggies! Napa cabbage is one of the easiest vegetables to meal prep, since you can just hack it into sections and break the leaves apart to rinse well. I got some more knife work done while I was at it.

The pan is already dirty from cooking the vegetables, so let’s cook the chicken too. A couple minutes per side, and the inside is done without drying out the outside.

Keeping up the momentum. Bloom the spices and the tomato paste, add liquid, stir until combined. I’ll let the sauce simmer a bit while I put other things together …

… Like cutting up the chicken. This is way too much chicken for the pizzas, so I’ll save some for later and have the burnt bits as a snack. As is the cook’s right.

Everything is set, so I can preheating the oven and start building the pizzas one by one.

Sauce, chicken, cheese. Into the oven, then onto the next. Sauce, chicken, cheese.

Keep an eye on the pizza, it will burn fast! Once the first is done, swap it out for the next one. It’s much easier to pick them up using the parchment paper than to mess around with pizza peels.

You don’t have to, but I like cutting my pizza into wedges.

Dinner is served! I have plenty of energy left because of all the shortcuts I took, andI’m not dreading doing the dishes for once.

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