Sara Ebadi hails from Iran and is a student in the bachelor of culinary arts programme at Otago Polytechnic.
She believes food should not only be tasty and delicious but also a natural and healthy way to bring people together at the dinner table.
For Ms Ebadi, food should speak for itself and in today's 101 article, sheshows how to make Argentinian flat bread with chimichurri dressing.
A healthy alternative to the more traditional and well-known pizza.
Black bean flatbread with chimichurri drizzle
Cuts into 16 squares
Ingredients
Flat bread
1 Tbsp dry yeast
⅛ teaspoon sugar
1 cup warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
Black bean topping
1½ cups refried black beans
¼ cup finely grated fresh parmesan cheese
1 red pepper cut into strips
Chimichurri drizzle
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp minced garlic
Method
Dissolve yeast and sugar in half cup warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add flour salt and remaining water and stir until a dough forms. Turn dough out on to a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes)
Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. Roll dough into a 14 x 11-inch rectangle; place dough on baking sheet dusted with flour .
Topping
Spread the black bean mix over the dough. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and place the slices of pepper. Bake at 210degC for 13 minutes or until crust browns and cheese is bubbly. Let cool 10 minutes.
Chimichurri drizzle
Combine all of the ingredients into a small bowl. Drizzle the mixture over the flat bread when cool. Any remaining chimichurri can be served on the side.
Serve warm.
