Feb 15, 2017

Clam Chowder Pizza from Scratch on a Rice Cooker

Location : Camotes Islands - San Francisco (municipality), Cebu (province), Philippines

Guerrilla Chef
Bringing my small rice cooker with me from Cebu City, I'm back to being a guerrilla chef in Camotes Islands. Armed with a Swiss Army knife, a little tenacity and a childlike curiosity, I play alchemist in my small room/office/kitchen. With the abundance of fresh picked clams by the sea, I roll-up my sleeves for my first ever Clam Chowder Pizza.

Pizza Dough

Three ways to bring your pizza dough to Pizza Nite:

buy uncooked pizza dough from a pizza joint (easy and fun)
buy a ready-made cooked pizza crust from the grocery (easy but not fun)
make your own pizza dough from scratch, as follows: (challenging and most fun)

Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup warm water (between 85° and 115° F)
- 2 tbsp yeast (I like my dough a little yeasty. You can use less)
- 2 tbsp sugar or honey (I use Muscovado sugar)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
Preparation:
1. Making the sponge/poolish
  Mix water, sugar, yeast and 1 cup regular flour in a bowl. Cover until it starts to bubble (first rising, around 45 mins). This can now be used. However, if you want a more flavorful pizza dough, keep this covered in the fridge overnight or a full 24 hours.
2. Kneading
  Mix the rest of the ingredients (flour, salt and oil) and start kneading (tip: press on with your body weight, not just your arm power). The dough should be soft without being sticky. Too sticky, add flour. Too hard, add water. You're done when the dough bounces back when you poke your finger onto it. Cover until double in size (2nd rising, around 45 mins).
3. Scaling and shaping
  Punch the dough to take the air out. You can cut it up and use only what you need. You can cut it up into 3 and shape them into balls - one of those balls should be good to make one 13" regular pizza. You can freeze the 2. Flatten one ball into a circular shape. I usually flatten it on the same tray I will bake on so I don't have to make a transfer - I just apply a little oil on the tray before flattening. Using both hands, one on top of the other, press from the center outwards to stretch it in all directions. You can flatten it more by using a rolling pin (or wine bottle). Take a fork and put puncture holes all over the dough to keep it from bubbling up while cooking (which also holds the sauce in place). Wait until double in size (3rd and last rising).
4. the dough is now ready for baking

For a more complicated pizza dough but much better, here's a video by Vito Iacopelli

Clam Chowder Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

I have a very small capacity rice cooker so the servings are small

10 pieces of sea clams, the size of a 1 peso coin
1/2 cup water
1 small onion
1 small carrot
a few cloves of Bisaya garlic (native)
1 small bell pepper (optional)
a few peppercorns
1/2 pack of a 150g tomato paste

Preparation:

boil water with the clams in the rice cooker, extracting all the flavor from the shells
discard the shells but leave the clam meat inside, then add onion, carrot, garlic, bell pepper, peppercorns - bring to another boil
add tomato paste and stir-in until it boils. Lower heat to simmer and continue to simmer until the liquid has the consistency of a sauce
let cool

Toppings

the only topping was already in the tomato sauce - the clams
but feel free to add shelled shrimps or some firm fish fillet

Pizza Preparation

apply oil on the surface of the rice cooker to keep the dough from sticking
use 1/3 of the dough, flatten it inside the rice cooker and top it with the sauce
grate cheese on top
put cover back and wait 30 minutes for the final rising of the dough
turn the heat on and wait until the cooker turns off
at this point, the dough is still not fully cooked. Turn the machine on again, this time without the cover. You may have to continue pressing on the "on" switch to keep it from turning itself on - 5 minutes
the pizza should be ready. Pry it off the cooker with a wooden spatula. Serve hot and wash it down with tuba

Ending Thoughts
This is far from the ideal pizza - but it allows you to enjoy pizza without an oven using the barest essentials.

--- Gigit (TheLoneRider)
YOGA by Gigit | Learn English | Travel like a Nomad | Donation Bank

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if you can get one, buy tuba...goes well with pizza

work on the dough first since it needs 3 risings before it can be used

after kneading, the dough should be a round ball

while the dough is rising, boil the clams to extract all the seafood taste from the shells

after removing the shells, add the onions, garlic, peppercorns, bell pepper and carrot and bring to another boil. Then add the tomato paste

form everything inside the rice cooker...dough first, ladle with the sauce and top with cheese

watch your downloaded movie with tuba and pizza...life is good

Reader Comments:

Carl

(Feb 15, 2017) In my events technical world there has always been fierce debate about the Swiss Army, Leatherman and Gerber multitools. The Swiss Army is the only one with a corkscrew so wins every time! I broke a Gerber blade opening a coconut in Cambodia.

Camotes Islands, Cebu, Philippines

tourist attractions

Lake Danao Park - inland twin lakes in San Francisco
Santiago Bay Beach - stretch of fine white sand with a cluster of beach resorts
Buho Rock - dive boards perched from a high rock outcropping, Poro
Tulang Diot - white sand beach on a tiny island just 10 minutes by boat from the main Camotes Island
Busay Falls - groomed plunge pool, dirt trail walk with 2 stream crossings, Tudela
Capasanan Spring - crystal clear open spring water source in San Jose, Poro. Free
Hagnaon Spring - clean drinking water coming out of the rocks, dipping pool you might share with carabaos in San Jose, Poro. Free

caves

Timubo Cave - groomed trail inside cave with lights, swimming inside, limited penetration
Bukilat Cave - cathedral-like caverns, top lighting from cave openings, high tide swimming
Holy Crystal Cave - cave formation glitters, human bones, limited penetration
Paraiso Cave

important spots

San Francisco - town center, wet market, municipal hall, eateries, live music, bar, Baywalk
Poro - town center of Poro Municipality, port to Cebu City and Danao
Tudela - town center of Tudela Municipality
Pilar - town center of Pilar in the island of Ponson Island
Consuelo Wharf - port for Danao ships
Poro Port - port for Danao and Cebu City ships

resort hotel

Aladin White Beach Resort and Retirement Investment
beachfront property, swimming pool, modern amenities and facilities
Esperanza, San Francisco, Camotes Island, Cebu, Philippines

Camotes Island FYI / Tips

Camotes Islands is a group of islands composed of 4 municipalities:
1. San Francisco - this is the biggest municipality covering the West major island. Its town center is the busiest with the market, eating places, live music and the Baywalk. The beach resort clusters, however, are concentrated in Santiago Bay, Mangodlong and Esperanza
2. Poro - Poro is on the other big island to the East. It has its own port and the town center is likewise busy
3. Tudela
4. Pilar - this occupies the small north east island
the busy area where most of the social gatherings take place, eating places, is located at the Baywalk area of San Francisco, 30 mins by motorcycle from the Consuelo Port. Travellers usually stay in their resort outside the Baywalk
the resorts in Camotes Island are scattered around the island. There are none around the Baywalk area of San Francisco
perhaps the only downside to Camotes Island is the inescapable deafening sound of karaoke - it is played very loud and it's everywhere. In Baywalk, there are 3 karaoke bars beside each other going full blast all at the same time

Camotes Island Cost Index

(US$1 = Php 49.82 as of Jan 15, 2017)

PHP 100 habal-habal ride from Consuelo Port to San Francisco
PHP 55 Pale Pilsen beer
PHP 10/pax regular fare for habal-habal within San Francisco
PHP 500/tour habal-habal rate for island tour up to 2 pax
PHP 800/tour tricycle rate for island tour up to 4 pax

Cebu City to Camotes Island

via Poro - from Pier One in Cebu City, take the Ocean Jet for Poro, 2 hours, daily trip - 6am and 3pm (0936.823.8762 |0956.270.6610 | 0999.889.9999).
via Consuelo - from Cebu City, take the northbound bus passing through Danao and get off at the Danao Port. At the Port, take a Jomalia Shipping boat for Consuelo (San Francisco, Camotes), P220/pax, a/c, 2 hours, daily trip - 5:30am, 7:00am (special trip), 8:30am, 12:00 noon (express), 2:30pm, 5:30pm and 9:00pm (express, Fri/Sat/Sun only).

Camotes Islands to Cebu City

Poro - Cebu City (fastest and most direct) - go to Poro and take the 8am or 5pm Ocean Jet to Pier One in Cebu City, P380/pax/aircon, 2 hours
Consuelo - Danao - Cebu City - go to Consuelo (San Francisco) and take the Jomalia Shipping boat to Danao, P220/pax, a/c, 2 hours, daily trip - 5:30am, 7:00am (special trip), 8:30am, 12:00 noon (express), 2:30pm, 5:30pm and 9:00pm (express, Fri/Sat/Sun only). From Danao, take the Ceres Bus to Cebu City

Cebu City to Dumaguete, Negros Oriental by Boat

George and Peter Lines - Mon/Thur/Sat/Sun 10pm, (035)225.4337, 0922.557.1023
Oceanjet - via Tagbilaran, daily 6am, dumticketing@oceanjet.net, 0918.898.2188
Cokaliong - Mon/Tue/Wed/Thur/Fri/Sat 7pm, Sun 12pm, 6 hours, (035)225.3599

Danao to Camotes Island

via Consuelo - at the Danao Port, take a Jomalia Shipping boat for Consuelo (San Francisco, Camotes), P220/pax, a/c, 2 hours, daily trip - 5:30am, 7:00am (special trip), 8:30am, 12:00 noon (express), 2:30pm, 5:30pm and 9:00pm (express, Fri/Sat/Sun only).
via Poro - at the Danao Port, take the Super Shuttle Ferry for Poro (Camotes), P?/pax, 3 hours, daily trip - 9:00am and 5:00pm (0936.823.8762 |0956.270.6610 | 0999.889.9999).

Camotes Island to Danao

via Consuelo - go to Consuelo (San Francisco) and take the Jomalia Shipping boat to Danao, P220/pax, a/c, 2 hours, daily trip - 5:30am, 7:00am (special trip), 8:30am, 12:00 noon (express), 2:30pm, 5:30pm and 9:00pm (express, Fri/Sat/Sun only).
via Poro - take the Super Shuttle Ferry in Poro (Camotes) for the Danao Port, P?/pax, 3 hours, daily trip - 5:00am and 1:00pm (0936.823.8762 |0956.270.6610 | 0999.889.9999).

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