Weary and tired, Sweets and I dragged our jet-lagged bodies into our rental car, and headed up the coast line to Hilo to eat up time before we could collapse in the vacation house we had rented. The ten hour flight did not lend itself to a full night’s sleep, which only contributed to us feeling a bit more out of our element than usual.
My job as navigator proved to be challenging as well,
“Umm… take a left at this next K-street”.
“K- street? Can you sound it out?”
“No…” I whined not sure what to make my mouth do with all the vowels., “Kam-ah…” in my head whirled the bad Hawaiian joke seen on t-shirts in high school: Kam-on-a-wana-lai-u?
Magically our car was pulled in the direction of good food and we found ourselves at Cafe Pesto. In an unexpected fit of nostalgia we giggled at the appearance of Oregon Chai on the menu and ordered iced sweet chai and a Southwestern pizza. What came to us from that kitchen is one of the best pizzas I have ever tasted…tangy chipotle chicken on a bed of garlicy cilantro pesto, and topped with red onion rings, smooth creamy goat cheese crumbles and sweet chili sauce. We swooned, finishing off every slice, licking the sweet vinegar sauce off of our fingers.
This flavor combination of cilantro pesto and sweet chili sauce has become a cult favorite in our house ever since…
Cilantro Chili Pizza, ala Cafe Pesto
Preheat the oven to 500F, preferable with a pizza stone on the middle shelf. Allow the oven to heat 30 minutes or more.
Meanwhile, prep your favorite pizza dough. If using refrigerated pizza dough, allow it to come to room temperature before shaping. Preparation of the pesto and chili sauces can be accomplished in the time it takes for the pizza dough to rest:
Cilantro PestoThis recipe makes more pesto than needed for pizza. Use the leftovers as a marinade for grilling, or go crazy making this pizza for all of your friends.
In a food processor or blender combine:
- 1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves
- 1 cup of cilantro leaves, stems and roots
- 1 Tbs of ground pepper
- 1 tsp of salt
- with enough canola or olive oil to help grind the ingredients into a paste
Store in the refrigerator or freezer with a slight film of oil on the pesto surface to help maintain the bright green color.
Sweet Hot Garlic SauceThis is my number one favorite ingredient, to always be found in my refrigerator. It is excellent paired with fried crispy foods, grilled meats, drizzled on curries, and on top of this pizza. Fortunately this tasty sauce is becoming increasingly common in grocery stores, often called Nahm Jeem Gratiem, or Tuong Ot Ngot.
In a sauce pan combine
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- 2 Tbs minced garlic
- 1 tsp salt
Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low, simmering to reduce and thicken to a syrupy sauce approximately 20 minutes or more. When thickened, stir in 1 Tbs of chili garlic sauce and allow to cool to room temperture. Store in the refrigerator.
Shape your pizza dough in the size you want, stretching it out thin with your fingers and hands. Place it on a piece of waxed paper, trimmed to match the foot print of the pizza dough shape and transfer the dough to a pizza peel for easy sliding onto the pizza stone.
Spread several tablespoons of the cilantro pesto on the surface of the dough. Sprinkle with a slight pinch of salt. Continue to top the pizza with chopped sundried tomatoes,red onion slices and chopped red bell pepper.
Slide the pizza onto your hot pizza stone and cook until the bottom is crusty brown, approximately 5-8 minutes.
Immediately top the pizza with crumbled goat cheese upon removing it from the oven. And lastly, the most important step, drizzle the pizza with Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce.
This pizza is also excellent topped with any grilled meat or seafood. If the goat cheese is omited this is a very tasty vegan meal.
Enjoy!
20 Comments
First faux ipods, now tonight’s dinner! Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce is making my mouth water, going forward I envision it will have many a use in Katheland. I really look forward to trying this one.
I was in hysterics when I saw that you had found and replied to my livejournal. What a wonderful beginning to another Monday. 
Thank you for commenting!
Kathe Anne
Holabird Sports
Wow, what a great recipe! There’s so many variants that you could do with this one if you wanted to have it a little bit different every night…LOL! A pinch of fresh ginger, for example, would give your sweet hot garlic sauce an interesting twist. Now if I only had a pizza stone….
Hey, what a coincidence! Let me second your opinion that this is the best pizza ever created, bar none. While honeymooning on the big island last year, we had the good fortune to stumble into Cafe Pesto and we ordered this exact same pizza – spicy chicken, cilantro pesto, goat cheese – and we almost collapsed from pleasure at the table, it was so good. We’ve been dreaming about it ever since. Thanks for the recipe – I’m going out to buy the ingredients right now!
Very cool coincidence Melissa… what a small world 
Ooooooo, I just returned to your site. I think I like this Pizza recipe better! I have to make dinner for a friend next week as he returns from knee surgery. This might be just the right thing!
Now I am craving pizza at 9:55am
While the Zucchini lemon pizza is good… its flavor comes through more quietly than this one. For a friend out of surgery? This cilantro pizza’s flavor will cut through the fog of pain meds!
Yumm~ made it for lunch today! Perfect!
This indeed looks quite tasty. I’ll have to give it a whirl this weekend! I enjoy reading your entries.
~Bea–working to help women reclaim their dignity and dollars! http://www.pinktruth.com
I stumbled upon this pizza recipe while surfing the net for a cilantro pizza idea earlier this spring. My entire family loves cilantro beyond belief. After wiping up the drool left while perusing the recipe, I forwarded it on to my family and a few friends. Every single person I sent it to has made the pizza but me. Alas, today, I will join them in relishing the love of (as I am told) a truly amazing pizza. Thanks for posting it!
Oh so good to hear Jen!
I should have included with this recipe the warning about the obsessive phase that accompanies this flavor combination- it’s addicting!
cheers!
–McAuliflower
My Husband & I absolutely Love Cafe Pestos and have been there many times…just thinking about it makes us homesick for HI. Our favorite is the Lokelani. You have got to try it if you ever get back. Wish i had the Recipe for that one. It is to ‘die for’
glad you enjoyed HI!! Our favorite vacation
Mmmm, that looks tasty. I’ll give it a whirl at the weekend.
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Where do you get the chili garlic sauce? Is there a brand we can look for in the stores?
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