Description
Think of Lahmacun (Lahamajoun) as super thin, crispy pizza (or flatbread) known in Armenia and Turkey, topped with a flavor-packed mixture of minced meat with peppers, tomato, fresh herbs and earthy spices. I take a major shortcut by using quality store-bought pizza dough. But the secret is in the spice mixture.
Ingredients
Scale
Dough
- 1/2 lb uncooked store-bought organic pizza dough
Topping
- 1/2 sweet red pepper, cored, cut into chunks
- 1 shallot, halved
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/2 oz fresh parsley leaves with some stem
- 7 oz ground lamb or ground beef
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp Aleppo-style pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp Private Reserve Greek extra virgin olive oil
- Lemon wedges for later
Instructions
- Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Adjust oven rack to the middle. (or see stove-top instructions in notes)
- Prepare the meat mixture. In the large bowl of a food processor, fitted with blade, add red peppers, shallot, garlic, and parsley. Pulse a few times to chop. To the mixture, add ground lamb (or beef). Season with spices and salt. Add tomato paste and extra virgin olive oil. Now pulse again until well-combined (about 8 to 10 pulses.)
- Prepare two large rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment paper (you'll be using these to bake the Lahmacun in batches.)
- Divide the pizza dough into 4 equal balls (about 2 oz each.) Working with one ball of dough at a time, place on a floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll dough out into as thin as you can to a disk that's about 8 or 9 inches in diameter.
- Assemble Lahmacun. Place one flatbread disk on one of the prepared pans. Reshape as needed. Spoon 3–4 tbsp topping onto dough and spread topping evenly to edges, leaving a thin boarder.
- Bake in heated oven for about 5 to 7 minutes or until dough and meat are fully cooked (dough will be a little crusty around the edges.)
- Repeat steps 5 and 6 with the remaining dough.
- Squeeze a little lemon juice on top. Serve Lahmacun hot or at room temperature. See notes below for how to serve.
Notes
- Cook's Tip: if 1/2 lb pizza dough doesn't seem enough for you...if it's not giving you enough for your crowd, you can go ahead and use 1 lb pizza dough. The mixture should still be enough. If you need to feed even more people, and you need to use more pizza dough, then simply double the meat topping.
- Cook's Tip for How to serve Lahmacun: Before you serve, squeeze just a little bit of lemon juice on Lahmacun. If you like, simply add a few slices of red onion, radish, and fresh mint leaves on top, and wrap the Lahmacun up, burrito-style. OR, to serve a larger crowd, you can slice Lahmacun like you would pizza or flatbread and serve with a drizzle of tahini sauce and a side of this easy Mediterranean salad.You can add favorite mezze.
- Cook's Tip for How to Cook Lahmacun on Stovetop: You can cook Lahmacun on stovetop instead of heating up the oven. You will need a large non-stick skillet with a lid. Pre-heat skillet over medium heat and add just a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. Place one Lahamacun in heated skillet and cover with lid. Cook for about 5 minutes until the meat and dough are cooked through.
- Recommended for this recipe from our all-natural spice collection: smoked paprika, allspice, cumin, Aleppo-style pepper. SAVE! Create your own 6-pack of spices.
- Try our Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oils. Private Reserve and Early Harvest EVOOs from organically grown and processed Greek Koroneiki olives. SAVE! Try the EVOO Bundle!
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Category: Appetizer, Entree
- Cuisine: Turkish, Mediterranean