Mumbai's tryst with pizza... where it came from and where it's going
Mumbai's tryst with pizza... where it came from and where it's goingu00a0
This may not be a true story. It was probably in the blistering heat one afternoon in early 19th century Italy when a baker dumped in a flat piece of dough into his oven to check whether it was hot enough. He later probably picked out the well-baked piece of dough, stuck a few bits of tomato and mozzarella cheese in it and munched it up. Tasted rather nice!
Now picture him getting off the plane in Mumbai, stopping by for a bite at Shiv Sagar, and digging into a desi version of his much venerated street food. Would he like it? Maybe.
 |
|
Chef Oriana Tirabassi hand-tosses the pizza dough while indulging in a bit of acrobatics |
One man's pizza, another man's...
In these 25 years, numerous joints serving pizza have sprung up but how close are we to authentic Italian pizza? Chefs Oriana Tirabassi of Mezzo Mezzo, JW Marriott, and Fabio Mariella of Celini, The Grand Hyatt, both get the nod for 'real' Italian pizza from Karen Anand. Which is pretty obvious, considering they're both Italian.
And while Oriana and Fabio nominate each other's pizzas as authentic, the fast food chains get pretty much a thumbs down. "It's too thick and I prefer for my guests to eat thin-crust pizza. It leaves space for other items," says Chef Fabio. "I have great respect for the American chain, but Dominos is nowhere close to Italian pizza," protests Chef Oriana.
Paul Kinney, executive chef, InterContinental Marine Drive, makes an interesting point when he says that a thin crust pizza is a lot easier to bake, though it's difficult to roll, being barely 0.3 mm in thickness. It takes lesser time to cook though, which means that mostly, precooked meats need to be used as topping. Thick bases, essentially an Americanisation, go great with raw meats, as both the meat and dough take nearly the same time to get cooked. Whatever the case, Kunal isn't a great fan of American pizza: "It's popular all right and I do eat it if necessary because it's a convenient option, but there's far too much bread in its base and it's priced exorbitantly."
 |
|
Chef Fabio Mariella pulls out a perfectly baked pizza in his kitchen |
As Karen puts it, the different varieties of the pizza coexist in the city thanks to the varied clients. The well-travelled global trotter likes his thin-crust margherita at the five-star restaurant, while the average college kid prefers his dose of thick cheese bursting fare. There's also a segment that still swears by the Udipi style pizza.
The average Mumbaiite, according to her, looks for a thick base, a spicy sauce, and cheese which doesn't just have stretch but also flavour. Karen has formulated a special pizza cheese launched for the Indian palate, a mixture of the cheddar (40 per cent) and mozzarella cheeses (60 per cent).u00a0u00a0
Why we eat pizza
Ultimately, pizza, Italian cuisine rather, is the second most popular international cuisine in our island city, the first, of course, being Chinese. The reason behind this, according to Chef Kinney, is that the food cultures of both India and Italy are similar. "For both cultures, food is a family event. We like to share what we eat and we both do like a bit of spice, though Indians need more of it than the Italians," he says. Karen also puts it down to the options available for vegetarians. "Most other international cuisines, take French for instance, don't have much to offer for the vegetarian but pizza can have any topping," she explains.
Kunal says it's because one can hardly go wrong with bread, tomato sauce and cheese. But ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakar begs to differ. "I loathe the pizza," he thunders. "You wouldn't mind shelling out Rs 150 for a teeny-tiny pizza, but you'll want to murder the Udipi if he dares to charge you as much for a masala dosa. It's because we think we're eating the white food of the white gods. Give me a papad topped with veggies any day!"u00a0
 |
|
A classic vegetarian pizza from an Udipi hotel, this one is a mixture of capsicum, onions, tomatoes, a bread-base and of course, a thick packed layer of cheese |
What next?
The market is just getting bigger, is what Karen feels. "Pizza Hut has seekh kebab and chicken tikka toppings. I see many more exciting options for vegetarians as well," she says. Chef Oriana has already brought in her concept of dessert pizzas. She credits her mother with this idea, who would top pizza bread with Nutella when Oriana was a child. Alyque agrees that further Indianisation is in store for the Italian street food because no matter how global the Indian becomes, his ear and tastebuds still remain Indian. Chef Ananda is sure that the margherita and pepperoni pizzas are here to stay. But celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor has the last word: "I wouldn't be surprised if I found a vada pav topping on my pizza someday." Coming up?u00a0
Kunal's pizza picks
Trattoria has this brilliant Pepperoni pizza and they make a mean Seafood pizza as well with these huge prawns!
Pizzeria at Marine Drive has this amazing Spicy Pork Pizza, which is a milder version of the Goan pork.
I did a lot of the advertising for Smokin' Joe's, but I do love their pizzas anyway. In other fast food, Garcia's is yummy as well.
This is one flavour you ought never to eat: the pizzas I tried in Australia topped with crocodile and kangaroo meats. Ugh!
Footnote: The problem is, I can eat a whole pizza and still want to have a proper lunch or dinner. The way I see it, the pizza is still a snack, it's not a whole meal for me.u00a0
Make your own Pizza Margherita
Pizza Base
Ingredients:u00a0u00a0
Flour "0" (very fine flour)u00a0u00a0 500 gm
Saltu00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0 12.5 gm
Wateru00a0u00a0u00a0 250 ml
Yeastu00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0 10 gm
Method:
Combine flour, yeast and water and knead it into dough.
Add the yeast and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Make balls of 180 gms and let them rest for 4 hours at 18/20 degrees celsius.
Margherita Sauce
Ingredients:u00a0u00a0
San Marzano tomato sauceu00a0 80gm
Extra virgin olive oilu00a0 5 ml
Basilu00a0u00a0u00a0 2 gms
Saltu00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0 to taste
Method:
Mix San Marzano tomato sauce with olive oil, basil and salt. Let the mixture rest in the refrigerator for an hour.
u00a0
Pizza Topping
Ingredients:u00a0u00a0
Buffalo Mozzarellau00a0 100 gms
(break the mozzarella with fingers, do not use knife)
Basil leavesu00a0u00a0 3
Method:
Preheat the oven to 320 degrees C.
Flatten out the pizza dough into a round disk and spread the tomato sauce mixture evenly on the dough.
Top the pizza with the broken pieces of spicy buffalo.
Bake in the oven for 6 - 8 minutes.
Recipe courtesy Chef Oriana Tirabassi of Mezzo Mezzo at the JW Marriott
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
