Simplified: Butter “Chicken” Pizzas with Tandoori Squirrel
Use this simplified recipe if you want to make these amazing squirrel pizzas without all of the hard to find ingredients. Most major grocery stores sell tandoori sauce and butter chicken sauce in the international isle in with the Indian products. If you can’t find tandoori sauce, simply use the butter chicken sauce as both the marinade and the pizza sauce. If all you can find is tandoori spice, mix it with half a cup of plain yogurt and use that instead of the tandoori sauce.
Original recipe can be found here: Butter Chicken Pizzas with Tandoori Squirrel
- Cook Time2 hr 10 min
- Ready in2.5 Hrs + Marinating Time
- Yield4 Individual Pizzas
Ingredients
- 2 squirrels (I used Eastern Greys) cut into 6 pieces each: legs, saddle, and ribs/neck
- 3/4 cup tandoori sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 4 pieces naan bread, preferably garlic naan
- 1 cup butter chicken sauce (not paste!)
- 1/8 red onion, sliced thinly
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded (more if you like it cheesy)
- Handful cilantro leaves, picked
- Optional:
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon plain yogurt
- Juice from 1/2 lime
Preparation
Day Before
Combine the tandoori sauce and the squirrel pieces in a bowl or ziplock bag. Make sure the marinade completely covers all of the surface area on the squirrel pieces.
Refrigerate and let marinate for at least 8 hours.
Day Of
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Spread out the vegetable oil in a cast iron pan or casserole dish. Place the squirrel pieces in the pan, then spoon all of the leftover marinade on top of the pieces.
Bake in the oven for about 2 hours, or until the squirrel begins to turn golden and the marinade dissipates.
Take the squirrel out of the oven and let cool.
Crank up the heat in the oven to 450°F.
When the squirrel has cooled, use your fingers to pull off all of the meat, leaving it in small shredded bite-sized chunks. Try to make sure there are no bones left in the meat.
Set aside the bones to make stock if you desire, or dispose of them.
Arrange the 4 pieces of naan bread in front of you. Split the butter chicken sauce between them and spread it around each piece with the back of a spoon.
Now add the squirrel meat and onions evenly between the 4 pizzas.
Top with cheese, and put in the oven directly on the upper rack. I like to put a sheet pan underneath to catch any dripping cheese.
Cook for 6-10 minutes (depending on the thickness of naan bread and personal oven temperature), keeping a close eye on the pizzas so they don’t burn.
While the pizzas are cooking, if you want to make the sauce, combine the mayo, yogurt, and lime juice in a bowl, or better yet, a squeeze bottle.
Once the pizzas are crispy on the bottom and nice and melty on top, remove them from the oven.
Top the pizzas with the cilantro leaves, then drizzle them with the mayo-yogurt sauce. Enjoy!
***The recipe photo is for the regular version of this recipe and contains some ingredients not found in the ingredients list on this recipe***
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