Rice “Pizza” Crust
I always have an eye out for healthy alternatives for my favourite sinful meals. A while back I stumbled across the idea of replacing pizza dough with something healthier. This means you can enjoy all the goodness of lovely pizza toppings and gooey, oozing cheese on a healthy base.
One of my favourite ideas is to use whole grain rice. You get most of the pleasures a pizza has to offer but in reality you are eating a bowl of rice with vegetables and a sprinkle of cheese.
I admit: if you compare this crust to a well made pizza base it loses out. But if you look at this rice crust as a dish in its own right it is a winner…..
Ingredients
Makes one pizza crust
½ tbsp oil
1 cup cooked and cooled whole grain rice (1/2 cup of uncooked rice.)
2 tsp flour (I use buckwheat but you can use anything you have available incl. flax seed meal)
½ tsp dried rosemary
¼ tsp salt
1 small egg white (you could leave this out if you are vegan)
optional: a dash of stevia
optional: 1-2 tbsp water
Recipe
- Preheat the oven to 220 C (425F)
- Place an iron skillet, round cake tin or similar in the oven with the oil. Allow to become hot but do not let the oil smoke.
- Combine the remaining ingredients in a food processor and blend until the rice has the consistency of thick batter.
- Remove the pan from the oven and spread the rice mixture on it.
- Flatten with wet fingers.
- Bake 15-20 minutes until lightly coloured.
- Remove from oven and flip the rice base.
- Add your favourite pizza toppings.
- Return to the oven for 5-10 minutes.
Tips & Variations
I had a topping of
- Quick tomato sauce
- Tuna (in water)
- Capers
- Thinly sliced onion
- Mozzarella
- And once ready to serve: add a sprinkle of fresh basil or a handful of rocket