Bollywood dinner and movie with a side of toddler tantrum

Our latest challenge from Patak’s was to mix in a little India for a family dinner and movie night and I loved that they gave us this task. It was the perfect excuse for me to rekindle my relationship with some of my favourite Bollywood movies! A friend of mine is visiting so my parents came over to hang with her and the little ones and I figured it was the ideal setting for a dinner and movie night in  the making. I wanted to get everyone together to watch Kal Ho Na Ho but sadly Netflix did not have it so we ended up with Bol Bachan. I was in and out of the kitchen as I got our pizzas prepped but it was quite fun listening in on a Hindi movie as I haven’t done this in ages!! I rarely have the patience to sit through a three hour movie so I’m always in and out.

As always it was filled with dancing, lots of running behind trees, numerous outfit changes and ofcourse many a fight scene. The fights were a bit too much for the toddler so my parents flipped through those scenes and focused on the good stuff. The Little Monkey was giggling and enacting certain parts with a towel on her head. Who needs a dupatta when you have a towel?

Disclosure: I am part of the Patak’s Canada Ambassador program with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog, as always, are totally mine! 

Since it was a Bollywood night I wanted to mix in a little India to our traditional homemade pizzas. It was one of those evenings when I was full of inspiration in the kitchen so I mixed up a couple different ones. We had a Korma Mango Chutney Chicken (favourite of the evening) , two Tomato and Cumin Pepperoni Kale pizzas and a  Mushroom and Kale Pizza. I am a lazy one so we always buy the premixed dough at the bakery and that’s what I used for the base. One thing I must admit is that my  homemade pizzas always require a fork and knife – lots of toppings and plenty of sauce make it difficult to eat with a hand.

The sauce is what makes a pizza in my opinion so I spent an hour simmering six fresh tomatoes, a cup of tomato paste, three chopped garlic cloves and two small chopped onions (if you’re lazy just add fresh tomatoes to a ready made pasta sauce!). To this I added some fresh coriander and that was my sauce. For the Veggie and Prosciutto pizza I experimented by adding half a bottle of the Patak’s Tomato & Cumin cooking sauce to the basic pizza sauce. This was a delicious experiment! It helped balance the bitterness of the kale and added an extra depth to the sauce.

When it comes to toppings the hubs likes his pepperoni, mushrooms and peppers so that’s exactly what I made with the Tomato & Cumin base. I added some kale to ensure we got our veggies in. My friend LOVED the Korma chicken pizza and I did too. I used the simple sauce but it was the chicken that was magic here. I simply cooked two chicken thighs in five tablespoons of the Patak’s Korma Sauce and then pulled chunks of meat for the pizza topping. I also threw in some kale here and baked as usual with mozzarella.  While the pizzas were baking I took two tablespoons of Major Grey Mango Chutney and added three tablespoons of water and boiled it till the mixture thickened a bit. Once the chicken pizza was baked I drizzled on the mango chutney concoction. Not only did it look good but it gave a spicy sweetness to the Chicken Korma Pizza that took the pizza to a whole new level.

As we all sat down to eat the Little Monkey who loves pizza was all ready to try it. Unfortunately she was having a very bad day (did I mention that our naps have disappeared? She was exhausted but refused to take one all day) and when she realized that the homemade pizza required a fork and knife…things just melted (in a bad way.NOT the ooey gooey cheesy way!). Rest assured she had none of the pizza. As we devoured four pizzas among the five of us adults we had a healthy side dish of toddler tantrum!  SIGH!

What’s you’re favourite dinner and a movie combination?