recipe: asian barbecue chicken pizza

it's grilling season and i have no idea why i'm making so many pizzas and not very many burgers - what in sam hell is going on? i made an asian pizza-for-one tonight, but listed the full sized recipe below b/c honestly who makes half a pizza. this is the antithesis of a traditional italian pizza, but if we're defining pizza by *a* sauce, dough, and cheese, i think it's still OK to call it that :)

ingredients list:

asian bbq sauce:
- 1/4 cup hoisen sauce
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp Asian 5-spice seasoning
- 1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce

pizza:
- 1 cup leftover chicken (or chicken breast), sliced into small chunks
- 1 recipe for pizza dough or fresh store-bought
- 1/2 a red bell pepper, diced
- 1/2 a red onion, diced
- 1 cup mozz cheese (or any very mild tasting cheese)
- 1/8 cup carrots, thinly diced
- 1/2 cup mushroom, diced (i used crimini)
- 1 tsp garlic powder, divided
- 2-3 tbsp fresh cilantro
- 1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- pinch salt
- olive oil

to make: mix 1-2 tbsp olive oil, salt, and 1/2 tsp garlic powder in small bowl and set aside.

in a small saucepan, heat all sauce ingredients until mixture starts to boil, then reduce heat to low and allow to simmer until the mixture thickens and starts to become syrupy. remove from heat and allow to sit so it thickens a bit more (i had skipped the "remove from heat / let sit" step and my sauce -seemed- thick, but after the pizza cooked it was a tad liquidy. don't let yours get liquidy). 

heat a large skillet on medium heat; preheat the oven (with pizza stone in the oven also) to 450 degrees; and heat outdoor grill over medium heat (only do this last step if you are finishing the pizza on the grill). heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in the skillet, and sautee onion until it begins to brown. add red pepper and mushroom and saute for 2-3 minutes additional. 

roll out pizza dough on lightly floured surface. lightly flour the hot pizza stone, then carefully transfer the dough to the hot stone. spread the prepared bbq sauce onto the dough (note: you may not use all of the sauce - it is a strong flavor so do enough to cover the dough but don't drown it), then pile on first some cheese, the chicken, the onion, pepper & mushroom, carrot, more cheese and the some garlic powder (and any other desired seasonings). bake in preheated oven for about 12-13 minutes.

you can fully cook the pizza in the oven for a total of 14-16 minutes, or if you want to grill it, carefully transfer it to the preheated grill and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes, until the bottom of the crust starts to get a nice char to it. within the last few minutes of cooking, brush the crust with the garlic olive oil mixture and sprinkle it with sesame seeds. add the cilantro when it is removed from the oven (or grill), and allow to cool a few minutes before serving.
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as noted my sauce was a little liquidy, but all in all this pizza was a big mouth party. it's 100% wierd, but i love it. if i had it, a little pineapple would have worked really well here as well. i thought the mozz cheese would be really wierd on this (honestly i don't think i've ever seen an asian dish with cheese in it), but it's so mild it kinda just hung out in the background and held the rest of the ingredients together. asian + cheese seemed less wierd that pizza + no cheese. this gets my official YUM vote fo sho.