Buah Keluak Pizza
Ayam Buah Keluak in a pizza?!? You heard right!!! As someone with Peranakan roots in my heritage, I grew up eating ayam buah keluak - chicken pieces braised in a thick black gravy with the nuts of a native keluak tree. But I never imagined I could one day make it into a pizza! Until I found Batu Lesung’s buah keluak sambal which inspired me to create this fusion dish that I am absolutely in love with. In fact, it brought me to tears when I took my first bite (you can see this at the end of the video!) because the taste was so nostalgic for me. I guess that’s what they call ‘soul food’ - food that warms your heart and moves your soul. And for me, this Buah Keluak Pizza is it.
If you want to try it out for yourself, you can order your Buah Keluak sambal from Batu Lesung Spice Co. instead of cooking your own ayam buah keluak, which is a lot of work. Their pastes and sambal are pre-cooked, ready to use, and does not contain MSG, preservatives or fillers. You can definitely taste the quality of ingredients and authenticity of flavours in every one of their products.
Ingredients:
(Makes 2 x 10” pizzas)- 500g bread flour
- 5g instant yeast
- ½ tsp fine salt
- ½ tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 320ml water
- 90g Batu Lesung Buah Keluak Sambal
- 1 cup shredded chicken, cooked
- 10-12 cherry tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella
- Fresh arugula, tossed with 1 tbsp olive oil
- Sliced red chilli, garnish
Method
- Combine bread flour, instant yeast, sugar, salt, olive oil and water into a mixing bowl and knead using a dough hook on low speed for 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic
- Transfer dough onto a floured countertop and knead until dough is smooth and shape into a ball.
- Place dough in a large bowl with some olive oil and rub some that oil over the surface of the pizza dough.
- Clingwrap and let dough ferment in a warm place for 1 hour.
- When dough has doubled in size, punch down the dough on a lightly floured surface. Then divide dough into half and shape each into a ball.
- Let the dough rest covered for 15 minutes before rolling out.
- To assemble the pizza, roll out the dough balls into a flat disc about 11″ wide in diameter.
- Spread a good amount of Batu Lesung Buah Keluak sambal over each base, leaving about 1″ around the edge.
- Top pizzas with shredded chicken, cherry tomatoes and shredded mozzarella cheese
- Bake in a preheated oven at 450oF/230oC for 15 minutes until the crust is brown the cheese is bubbling. Remove from oven and cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, toss arugula salad with 1 tbsp of olive oil, salt and cracked black pepper.
- Top pizza with arugula salad and garnish with sliced red chillies.
