CURRY CHICKEN PITA BREAD PIZZA

Its time for pizza again! As the end of the week (Friday night) called for a little celebration, I made pizza. Quite similar to the turkey pita bread pizza several blog posts ago but made with chicken and a few different spices. I don't like to play favourites, but if I did this chicken curry pizza would just win over the turkey pizza, as the curry and smoked paprika give it a very distinctive and exotic flavour. The avocado on top may not be to everyone's liking; therefore you can add rocket or leave the pizza as is when it comes out of the oven. Don't forget to add the dried oregano right before the pizza goes into the oven, as it makes a hell of a difference!  


INGREDIENTS

• 500g chicken, sliced into equal strips 
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 
• 1 tablespoon curry powder 
• 1 teaspoon olive oil 
• 1 garlic clove, finely diced
• 60g red onion, finely diced
• 1 ripe avocado, diced 
• 6 small whole wheat pita breads (45g each) or gluten-free wraps
• Pre-packed low-fat pizza sauce or tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon grated parmesan cheese for each pita bread (6 teaspoons in total)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano (1/4 teaspoon per pita bread)
• 1 x 400g tin of artichokes, rinsed and drained well 
• baking paper

COOKING 

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius fan-forced. Line a large oven tray with baking paper. 

2. Place the chicken strips, garlic, smoked paprika, curry powder and olive oil in a medium bowl and toss to coat. Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat and cook chicken, stirring constantly, until no red flesh remains (this will take around 5-7 minutes, depending on how thick the chicken strips are). Remove and cover to keep warm.  

3. Spread a thin layer of pizza sauce/tomato paste over each of the 6 pita breads. Then evenly distribute the artichokes, red onion and chicken to each pita bread. Top with 1 teaspoon parmesan cheese and 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano. 

3. Bake in the oven for around 10-12 minutes or until the base browns and the cheese is melted. Top with diced avocado when removed from the oven. 

NB: Usually when you buy the packs of 45g pita bread, they will come in packs of 4. You can either increase the ingredients by a 1/4 to be able to make more of the same chicken curry pizza, or you can make a simple but very taste margarita pizza by adding tomato paste, cheese and oregano or basil. 

Serves / 4