You’re going to groan when I reveal what I had for dinner yesterday, so I’m leaving it till later. But right now I’m dying to share my latest creation with you.

I’ve been experimenting with baking my “mix-it-up” bowls, and have so far produced two of them: the cheese-baked pilaf with pumpkin-cheese sauce and the coconut-crusted pilaf with cheesy-mango sauce.  

I really like my pilaf baked, because the top layer gets all crispy and crunchy. But the inner part of the bowl still stays moist and soft, and though I loved the different textures, I’ve been brainstorming for a pilaf that was crispy throughout. The method to getting a crispy texture was to get all surface of the pilaf exposed to the heat, and the only way to that was to get it flat.

And so that got me thinking…I’ve made a pizza-flavored pilaf before in the form of my “Hawaiian pizza” pilaf …but what about a pilaf-pizza? And so that’s how this culinary genius came up with…

                                       BBQ Pilaf-Pizza

Base ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked pearled barley
• 2 tablespoons black beans
• 1/4 cup mashed roasted pumpkin
• 1 large egg white
• salt and pepper
• pinch of dried Italian herbs

I needed something to hold the barley and beans together, so I chose pumpkin and egg white as a binder. I just tossed all of these into a bowl and mixed the whole thing up:

And then I spread that mixture flat out into a greased pan (I used the bottom of a springform pan, but my first choice would have been a pizza pan or a cookie sheet).

I popped it into a 400~450 degree oven to bake for about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, I prepared my other ingredients:

Topping ingredients:

• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
• 1 small minced garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 chopped thick-sliced chicken ham
• 2 tablespoons Mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon cheddar cheese

Once the pilaf-crust was dry and crispy out of the oven like this:

I smothered on the BBQ sauce…

Then topped it with the garlic, onions, bell pepper, and ham…

And then finally my favorite, CHEESE~

I baked it in the oven about 15 minutes more, and said hello to another fabulous burpilicious creation:

I could not believe how well it turned out! The bottom pilaf-crust actually held its shape, and each little grain and bean was so crunchy and lovely!

In my most biased opinion, this beats all regular pizza out there.

As usual, I got all excited over the golden cheesy crust…Gets me salivating like a new-born puppy every time!

I tentatively cut into my “pizza” and was pleased to see it still standing nice and whole without crumbling into pieces. The pumpkin and egg white binder really worked!

And because this looks so gourmet, I dug into it elegantly with a fork and knife…

I was weeping by the time I got to the last two bites…

I am definitely making this again. Expect variations of this pilaf-pizza in the near future.

Okay, and on to what I had for dinner yesterday. I went out to eat with Jingwen again last night. We’re trying to squeeze in as much time together into my last two weeks in Singapore…God I’m going to miss her so much!

Gaah…hurrying back to the topic of food before I tear up again.

…Guess where we ended up dining last night? What’s French, delicate, luscious, and makes both my taste buds and wallet cry? Yes indeedy, we paid another visit to the seductive French mistress, Out of the Pan!

This time I ordered the Seafood Jungle in whole wheat crepe:

"Fresh shrimp, scallops, and crabmeat in spicy yogurt dressing with citrus fruits”

This crepe came with a “Recommended” tag, and with just one bite I could see why.

The shrimp, scallops, and crabmeat were so tender and moist and sweet, and they were complemented perfectly with the rich and tangy yogurt dressing. I don’t know why they called it spicy, because I could hardly detect any spice level in it.

There were fresh bursts of little cubes of oranges and mangoes and pineapples in the filling as well, which were a refreshing, fruity welcome in my mouth.

Jingwen order the Norwegian Salmon in sundried-tomato crepe. I didn’t take a picture of it because once again my hungry friend attacked it before I could stop her. Ha ha!

Anyway, the Norwegian Salmon was what I order the first time I was here, so here are some old photos of it:

“Smoked Salmon with creamy pistachio cheese & Plantation chutney.”

As always, they were both freaking delicious. And what do you know? I’ll be paying them a last visit soon again next week.

I’m not dreading going back to America anymore, but I sure will miss everything and everyone here. Jingwen sent me a text message yesterday: “I’m so sad you’re leaving "

Me too. I am so grateful to have so many amazing friends. I’ve learned so many things from this trip, and one of the deepest realization was the fact that you can meet precious people anywhere in this world. All around you, you’re surrounded by beautiful angels, all of them unique in their own way and linked to your life in different ways and relationships, but all necessary and present, so long as you keep that perspective in mind. I am so grateful to God because He has truly blessed me so much through the people I met, be it America, Korea, Malaysia, or Singapore. You can find incredible sources of friendship and inspiration and love everywhere and anywhere.

Question of the day: Who are some of the “angels” in your life? Is there any one whom you least expected to turn out to be a great friend and person?

Related posts:

1. Sushi on a Pizza
2. My “thick and dense” head and lunch
3. What a GOOD Friday indeed!
4. Let’s get down and cheesy
5. Stuffed with Happiness, Wrapped in Love

Tagged as: barley, beans, cheese, crabmeat, crepes, ham, pizza, pumpkin, scallops, seafood, shrimp, yogurt