Thai Chicken Pizza

I had a feeling we weren't going to like this.  My husband doesn't love peanut butter (I know, right?) and I'm pretty darn loyal to tomato sauce pizzas.  So I'm not sure why I chose to make this Thai Chicken Pizza with a peanut butter-based sauce but perhaps I was won over by the fact that I had pretty much all the ingredients on hand. For whatever reason, I put this pizza on the menu for this week.

While I was making the sauce last night, I even mentioned that we could always buy a pizza if this didn't turn out. Well, it did turn out.  In a big way.  I ended up halving the sauce which was perfect because it added great, creamy taste without being overpowering.  And the toppings added so much to the pizza -- a generous sprinkling of mozzarella, fresh veggies (red bell pepper, green onion, sliced zucchini, grated carrot and chopped cilantro made it onto our pizza), cooked and shredded chicken and a squirt of Sriracha sauce.  (Supposedly, this is supposed to be a knock off from California Pizza Kitchen's Thai Chicken Pizza although I've never had their pizza before.)

When I asked my husband what he thought (which seems particularly important since he consumed 75% of the pizza within 24 hours), he had two words: five stars.  Maybe that says it all.

Thai Chicken Pizza
Taken from: Food.com
Makes 1 pizza

Sauce

• 1/4 cup peanut butter (I used smooth)
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I used more like 1 1/2 teaspoons)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sriracha (or hot chili sauce), plus more for serving
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1/4 cup water

• pizza dough (I recommend this one)
• 1+ cup of mozzerella cheese 
• red pepper, thinly sliced (I used about 1/2 red pepper)
• 2-4 tablespoons of grated carrot
• mung beans (omitted)
• zucchini, thinly sliced in rounds
• 2 green onions, sliced 
• cooked chicken, shredded (I used 2 small cooked chicken breasts)
• approx. 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• limes (completely forgot to add this but I bet it would be delicious!)

Instructions

1. Premake pizza dough (this one has to rise for about an hour).
2. Preheat the oven to 500.  If using a pizza stone, add stone to oven.
3. To make sauce: Combine sauce ingredients in a small pan over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a boil; boil gently for one minute, stirring occasionally.  (If the sauce seems too thin, simmer on the stove for several more minutes, stirring occasionally.) Set aside.
4. Slice the vegetables and grate the carrots. Slice the limes to squeeze over the pizza when it is finished cooking. 
5. Roll out the pizza dough.  Use a large spoon to spread sauce evenly over pizza dough within the rim. Top with cheese, then add vegetables and chicken (do not add cilantro or limes - they will be added after the pizza is cooked).
6. Bake for 7-10 minutes until crisp and golden and cheese is bubbly.  (Baking in a 500 degree oven that has been preheated for at least 30 minutes will help get the crust crispy).
7. Garnish the pizza with minced cilantro and a squeeze of lime.