Pizza

It can be done…

We get it – it’s hard to eat healthily all the time. If you auto-dial or Uber Eats your local pizza place once a week, you’re not alone: according to a Euromonitor International Consumer Foodservice report a few years back, pizza was South Africa’s best-loved takeaway/home delivery fast food, with double the sales figures of any other takeaway.

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The problem: our fave fast food is loaded with fat and sodium. But you don’t have to forgo this tasty and convenient meal option altogether.

“The right toppings can transform this fattening grease bomb into a healthy meal,” says dietician Keri Gans, author of The Small Change Diet. “When making a pizza, use plenty of tomato-based sauce (you can add chilli, basil or chives for more flavour) and veggies,” suggests WH weight-loss advisor Elienne Horwitz. “Then lightly sprinkle mozzarella or feta over it.” Top a shop-bought wholewheat crust or cheeseless build-your-own takeaway with one of these combos.

1. Barbecue Chicken Pizza

You don’t have to weigh down your slice with chorizo or extra cheese to score a hearty serving of satiating protein. A reduced-fat hard cheese such as Slimmer’s Choice Cheddar, Gouda or mozzarella (around 13 percent less fat than regular cheese) and skinless white meat chicken with a coating of tangy barbecue sauce keeps you satisfied – so you won’t be tempted to polish off the rest of the pizza by yourself.

Make it: Toss a third of a cup cubed grilled chicken breasts and two tablespoons diced red onion with one tablespoon barbecue sauce. Spread evenly over one slice ready-made pizza base. Sprinkle with one teaspoon grated reduced-fat cheese. Bake in a 190°C oven for five to seven minutes, or until cheese melts.

Per slice: 1 212kJ, 9g fat (2g sat), 500mg sodium, 32g carbs, 4g fibre, 22g protein

2. Ricotta-pear Pizza

If you like your slice on the sweet side, there’s another option besides Hawaiian style (that’s pineapple and ham for the uninitiated). Try some low-fat ricotta sweetened with a touch of honey and slices of fibre-filled pear for a healthy meal that tastes like it could be dessert.

Make it: Spread two teaspoons orange marmalade over one slice ready-made pizza base. Top with a quarter cup ricotta and spread well to cover. Top with a third of a thinly sliced Bosc pear. Drizzle with one teaspoon honey and bake in a 190°C oven for five to seven minutes, or until warmed through.

Per slice: 1 254kJ, 5g fat (1g sat), 310mg sodium, 54g carbs, 6g fibre, 10g protein

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3. Parma Ham And Goat’s Cheese

Hold the sausage. “Parma ham is much leaner and provides the same meaty satisfaction without all the kilojoules or grease,” says Gans. Trade mozzarella for goat’s cheese or feta and you’ll get a mouthful of creamy goodness and 11 percent fewer kilojoules.

Make it: Layer one slice ready-made pizza base with half a cup diced tomato and half a cup chopped rocket. Top with 14g thinly-sliced Parma ham. Sprinkle with one tablespoon crumbled goat’s cheese or feta and a pinch of freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle with one teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil and bake in a 190°C oven for five to seven minutes, or until cheese melts.

Per slice: 1 254kJ, 26g fat (5g sat), 700mg sodium, 30g carbs, 15g fibre, 13g protein

4. Greek Pizza

“Feta on pizza is a really smart choice,” says Gans. “You only need a little to get a lot of flavour, which results in a huge kilojoule saving.” Then there’s a generous serving of veggies, including roasted red peppers and up more than 40 percent of your daily vitamin C.

Make it: Top one slice ready-made pizza base with two tablespoons drained roasted red peppers, five halved rosa tomatoes, five halved and pitted kalamata olives and one teaspoon feta crumbles. Bake in a 190°C oven for five to seven minutes, or until cheese melts.

Per slice: 1 090kJ, 12g fat (3g sat), 710mg sodium, 32g carbs, 6g fibre, 8g protein

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5. Spinach Salad Pizza

You could order a side salad with your pizza – or you can just pile your greens on top instead. This combo features crumbled goat’s cheese, which adds a big kick of robust flavour for a fraction of the fat you’d get from a standard mozzarella-loaded piece. And best of all, there’s zero cooking required.

Make it: Toss one cup baby spinach with half a cup sliced red grapes, one teaspoon toasted pine nuts, one tablespoon crumbled goat’s cheese and one tablespoon light balsamic vinaigrette. Top one slice of a ready-made pizza base with the salad.

Per slice: 1 200kJ, 10g fat (3g sat), 590g sodium, 45g carbs, 6g fibre, 8g protein

6. Cheesy Fennel

and courgette pizza Fennel is one of the ingredients that give Italian sausage its very distinctive taste. Sprinkle it, fresh or dried, onto your pizza and you’ll get the flavour you crave minus all that unwanted fat and bloat-inducing sodium.

Make it: Sauté half a cup diced fennel, three-quarters of a cup grated courgette and a pinch of chilli flakes with one teaspoon olive oil in a small pot over medium heat for five minutes, or until fennel softens. Spread over one slice ready-made pizza base. Sprinkle with two tablespoons reduced-fat grated mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 190°C oven for five to seven minutes, or until cheese melts.

Per slice: 1 090kJ, 12g fat (3g sat), 370mg sodium, 32g carbs, 6g fibre, 11g protein

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While we’re still on braai pies, why not experiment with even more with a braai pizza? This recipe can be made as healthy as you’d like. Skimp on the cheese and add extra flavour using spices and herbs to lower the kilojoule amount. You can make this even healthier by subbing white flour for something denser and more nutritious, like pea or chickpea flour. Plus, baking the dough on the braai comes close to that wood-fired oven effect, something a domestic oven will never achieve.
Braai pizza: what you need

1 packet instant yeast
2½-3½ cups stone-ground white bread flour (like Eureka Mills)
1 cup lukewarm water
Pinch sugar
2 tsp salt
¼ cup maize meal
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

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For the topping

400g tin whole tomatoes
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, sliced
1 bag baby spinach leaves
Half a lemon
200g tub feta
Black pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil

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Method

In a large bowl, mix the yeast and sugar into the warm water and leave for 5 minutes. Stir in the oil. Add the maize meal, then stir in the flour. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Wipe another large bowl with olive oil, add dough, cover and leave in a warm place to rise until it’s doubled in size (1-2 hours). Punch down the dough and leave it to rise for another 40 mins. Divide the dough into four balls and leave to rise for 45 minutes.
While the dough is rising, prepare the topping: process the tomato in a food processor or with a hand-held blender until more or less smooth.
Sauté the onion in the butter and olive oil (covered) over very low heat until golden and sweet (about 40 mins). Remove onions, add a little olive oil and cook spinach, tossing it around constantly until it’s bright green and wilted. Add a spritz of lemon juice, then chop finely.
Prepare the coals but don’t separate them out to the sides; once the coals are at a relatively high heat, they’re ready. Turn a baking sheet upside down and brush with olive oil.
On a floured board, roll out one of the balls of dough into a five-millimetre-thick circle. Place on the baking sheet and brush with oil. Slide the pizza base (off the baking sheet) onto the grid and cook for about a minute. It should be cooked underneath and when it begins to resemble a giant poppadom. Slide back onto the baking sheet and cook the side facing up, then repeat with the other rounds of dough. Let the coals die down until considerably cooler – around medium heat.
Add the topping to the cooked side of the pizza: spread with a thin smear of tomato, add spinach and onions, crumble over feta and grind over pepper.
Slide back onto the grid. Close the dome and cook for another 1 to 3 minutes. It’s ready when the base is crisp (but not burnt) and the cheese is just melting. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and serve immediately. Repeat with the other bases.

Makes 4 pizzas. Per 364g serving: 3051kJ, 29g fat (13g sat), 1 980mg sodium, 95g carbs, 6g fibre, 8g sugars, 23g protein.
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