Thai Pie

Pizza. Not exactly the light load, right?

Well, I've been battling, psychologically only mind you, with my weight and whatnot lately. I'm getting jowly, which doesn't work with my whole vanity thing. Plus, I can feel how out of shape I am. That 'wake up call,' when I woke up in the hospital to find I'd had a heart attack at the precocious age of 32, well, I guess I started to wake up but ended up hitting the snooze button.



Five more minutes?

I stepped on a scale at the Cosmosphere to find out what I'd weigh on the moon, and in the process I found out what I weigh on earth: more than I ever have before. I could pull a Cartman and say I'm totally buff, but bullshit.



So I've been trying to figure out ways to make the foods I love without obvious detriment to my health or the crazy sort of Whole Paycheck Market shopping I did back when the heart attack was fresh and innocent.

Enter pizza. I love it, the girls love it, but it can pack a wallop calorie-wise. Then enter cable TV, something I recently reacquired after a 10 year hiatus. Food Network, it's cool. These fearless cook-off contestants got me thinking.



I could have gone to the store to get a couple items. Shrimp would have been a great, obvious topping for the Thai Pie, but I didn't want to go to the store. That has to do with the budgetary equivalent of the weight issue. I'd go to Wal-Mart with one thing on my list and before you know it, it's hard to turn the cart at the corners because it's so freakin' heavy.



So I worked with materials at hand. A whole wheat crust, 3/4 cup water, 1-1/8 cup each whole wheat and white flour, some wheat gluten, a tablespoon each of yeast and sugar. Before I added the flour stuff, I let the warm water, yeast and sugar reach an obviously active ferment (about ten minutes).



For the sauce I started with about 2/3 cup Padang sauce, adding a bit of sesame oil, some ginger (maybe a teaspoon?), and as much Royal Thai spice as I had patience to grind (mainly coriander and red pepper, I think).



I didn't have much in the way of fresh veggies, but I did have some frozen stuff, and I defrosted it and put it on a paper towel to soak up excess moisture.

Then I thought of how Padang sauce is peanut based, and where could I get peanuts without leaving the house?



The fruit and nut mix, of course. Which ended up being another set of toppings. Peanuts, almonds, dried pineapple, kiwi, mango, cherries, etc. Veggie pizza or fruit and nuts?



Why not both? I mean, I was afraid I wouldn't like the result, so I divided the pizza into thirds, initially. A third with fruit and nuts, a third with veggies (asparagus, red bell pepper, yellow squash, some sort of orange squash), a third for the aforementioned fruit/nut mix, and a third divided between jalapeños and just cheese, a sixth each I guess.

All corners of the pie turned out to be pretty good, though the fruit and nut side is the best. The sweetness of the fruit, the crunch of the nuts, the creaminess of the cheese and the hot spicy sauce, all with that grainy whole wheat crust flavor... A (meatless) sweet, spicy, savory pizzagasm. Probably be even better with cream cheese substituted for the mozz, or some soy cheese of some sort to lighten the calorie count a few more ticks.