Vegan Mexican Pizza Recipe

I have been wanting to make a Mexican pizza recipe for a while now to liven up our 'Mexican Monday' dinner night. This pizza just screams Mexican... it has all of the delicious components that you crave in a Mexican feast. It has the spicy tasty bean base, the heat from the jalapenos, the sweetness from the tomatoes and corn, the cheesiness from the cashew cheese topping and the coolness from the sliced avocado. Yum yum yum! I guarantee that you will love this as much as Jerome and I do! But be warned, you may want to eat both pizzas in one sitting... I won't blame you if you do ;)

makes 2 pizzas


Bean Base:
   420g can kidney beans, drained

   1 teaspoon cumin

   2 garlic cloves

   2 teaspoons smoked paprika

   1/4 teaspoon chilli powder

   2 tablespoons lemon juice

   1 tablespoon olive oil

   big pinch of sea salt

   big pinch of freshly cracked black pepper

Toppings:
   1/2 red capsicum, thinly sliced

   2 large tomatoes, thinly sliced

   15 kalamata olives, sliced

   1/2 jalapeno chilli, thinly sliced

   1/2 purple onion, thinly sliced

   1/2 cup canned corn kernels 

Cheesy Sauce:

   1 cup pre-soaked cashews*, drained

   1/4 cup nutritional yeast

   1 tablespoon lemon juice

   1 tablespoon olive oil

   big pinch of sea salt

   big pinch of freshly cracked black pepper

   120ml water

Other:
   2 pizza bases

   coriander leaves (to garnish)

   sliced avocado (to garnish)

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius and add two pizza bases to pizza trays. 
2. In a food processor or blender, add all "bean base" ingredients and process until smooth. 
3. Spoon the smooth bean base onto the pizza bases and spread evenly.
4. Top the pizzas bases with the capsicum, tomato, olives, jalapenos, onion and corn. 
5. In a food processor or blender, add all "cheesy sauce" ingredients and process until smooth and creamy. Season with more salt and pepper to taste and add more water if you would like a thinner consistency. 
6. Drizzle the cheesy sauce on to the pizza bases. Drizzle with a spoon or use a piping bag like I did. Add as much or as little cheesy sauce as desired. Refrigerate any leftovers. 
7. Bake for 15 minutes or so until slightly browned on top.
8. Top with avocado slices and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve and enjoy!

• *Pre-soaking the cashews makes the cheesy sauce a lot more creamy and less grainy. Soak them for at least 4 hours or so. If you have a very powerful blender you may not need to pre-soak them. Just make sure that you drain the soaking liquid before making the cheesy sauce. 

The nutrition information above is an approximate guideline. One quarter of our pizza contains 31% of your RDI of iron, 46% of your RDI of vitamin C and is very high in vitamin B6.