Sugar Rush

The word “pizza” was first documented in 997 AD in Italy. In 16th century Naples, a plain round flatbread was referred to as a pizza. But up to that point it really was the humble pie, known as the dish for poor people, it was sold in the street and was not considered a kitchen recipe for a long time but to this, later on, were added the now standard toppings of cheese and tomatoes. And today, there are about as many toppings as you can think of and just about everyone loves munching on a slice of their favourite pizza.

So, when we came to know about the offering of delectable dessert pizzas at Courtyard by Marriott, Gurgaon we did not know what to expect. As food innovation and fusion cuisine reach new heights, experimentation and serving something different to foodies is nothing new. But executive chef, Amit Dash has come up with this novel range of sweet pizzas aimed at kids but he told us that since its commencement, these pizzas have been tested and approved by numerous patrons at the MoMo cafe.

Dash displayed a unique way of forming a perspective regarding the range of culinary delights being offered to customers, “I aim to change the taste palate by playing with the flavours.” He prepared his innovative pizzas in front of us. And along with the common aspect of the presence of grated cheese (which he feels is the essence of any pizza), all pizzas have a unique novel sauce, as compared to the more than ample amount of pizza sauce in regular pizzas to bring forward that pizza-ish flavour, Dash revealed. He and his team oversee the preparation of the pizzas offered under the dessert pizzas range. 

While talking to us, Dash spread mango puree mashed along with basil on a base and placed it in the oven. He explained that all variants of the dessert pizzas are made on a pre-cooked, thin crusted regular pizza base to avoid ruining the respective toppings during the baking process. After he took out the Mango basil pizza from the oven, he garnished it lightly with diced mangoes and a sprig of basil before serving them to us. The taste actually coaxed surprise from us, it had an herb-like taste with an overwhelming flavour of ripe mangoes. But the real effect that the initial bite our first dessert pizza had on us could not be framed into mere words.

The chef then proceeded to tell us how this initiative struck his mind, while preparing the base for the next pizza, or za as pizzas are now commonly referred to. He had a dessert pizza once a while back but that was just a plain dessert pizza with a basic chocolate topping, but the concept was stuck in his head. He felt that he could develop some appropriate add-ons and put the idea across as a new venture. But he got the chance to test this out during a minor incident at his daughter’s birthday.

When, on the occasion of his daughter’s birthday, the birthday cake was not delivered, chef Dash was determined to give his little darling a surprise. In his attempt to prepare something which she would like, he whipped up some mascarpone with a delightful dollop of jam and added melting cheese to this and adorn ed a pizza base with this dripping mixture. Needless to say, the ‘dessert pizza’ was a huge hit. On seeing the response from by his daughter, he decided to share this love with his guests at MoMo Café.

By the time he concluded his narrative, the Banana nutella pizza was ready. With an ample spread of nutella as the sauce, the za had a sickeningly sweet taste courtesy the caramelized slices of banana and nutella. On being asked for condiments, which regularly accompany pizzas, chef Dash told us that he recommends all patrons to enjoy his dessert pizzas without seasonings like oregano or ketchup. 

Now, as we had the gist of this initiative, our attempt at restricting the depiction of our awe at the exotic looking, colourful zas was quite successful. Next up for takes was the Blueberry white chocolate ganache pizza. The base sauce consisted of almond cream and white chocolate ganache, to produce a simple, off-white pizza, if one chose to ignore splatters of the blueberry compote which lent its distinctive sweet and sour kick.

We were of the opinion that the latter offering was the best among the lot, until chef Dash put down the Apple and marshmallow pizza in our midst. We were left ogling, with none of us expressing the desire to devour this marvelous looking pizza. With thick chunks of marshmallows, the caramelized slices of apple had indeed become a mere secondary observation. 

On taking a bite, we discovered that this za tasted better than its pretty countenance. The chocolate sauce complemented the oven-roasted marshmallows and the over-sweet apple slices to render joy to every pore in our bodies.Once again we had awarded the title of the best dessert pizza to the last one we had gorged. But we should have learnt from our previous experiences of the repercussions of drawing hasty conclusions, we realised as we nibbled on a slice of the Meltdown sweet chili pizza. This pizza united white chocolate sauce and sweet chilly dip to yield another masterpiece. Its wonderfully hot and sweet agenda reminded us of paprika, an exotic, usually sweet tasting variety of chilly.

By way of conversation, chef Dash told us that after that first stint with the dessert pizza at his daughter’s birthday, he had spent two months trying to come up with the best possible combinations, trying his hand at mixing just about anything sweet to come up with the best variations resulting in the pizzas that were served to us. 

Apart from being a chef, he also proved to be good at jesting. “Now, since you have had your desserts, you can have the main course,” announced the chef with a grin. But he did have a surprise in store for us. After a savoury light meal, chef Dash drew the curtains on another novelty. Though he agreed with us that all pizzas we had sampled were delish, he reckoned that the Angoori ras malai pizza was the true dessert. The almost flesh-like tender texture of the ras malai dumplings gave way to the sauce which consisted of an abundant measure of rabri to result in the perfect dairy pizza, and for once we had to agree with the chef.

On a concluding note, while bidding us adieu, chef Dash revealed the gist of his next venture when he told us that he was currently developing the idea of serving Japanese delicacies like wasabi and sushi with an Indian twist, and he was very subtle by just mentioning that kebabs, tamarind and garam masala are central to his schemes with hearty laughter. If we could judge him on the basis of his pizzas, we are certain that his next endeavour will also receive an equally popular response if not more.