Turkish Lahmacun Recipe
A much-loved favourite around the country, Turkish lahmacun is a meat-topped flatbread that can be made as spicy as you like. Serve with some fresh parsley, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and crispy onion. Turkish lahmacun is typically eaten with the hands, making it great finger food at parties.
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Equipment
- 1 sharp knife
- 1 rolling pin
- 1 kitchen scales
- 1 mini food processor (for your meat mixture)
- 1 large bowl (for mixing & resting your dough)
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
For The Dough
- 650 grams strong plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 120 millilitres thick natural yoghurt
- 250 millilitres water
- 1 teaspoon salt
For The Meat Topping
- 200 grams minced beef (ground beef) (around 20% fat content)
- 1 medium onion (peeled & roughly chopped)
- 1 small green bell pepper (deseeded & roughly chopped)
- 1 small red bell pepper (deseeded & roughly chopped)
- 1 medium tomato (roughly chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (peeled & roughly chopped)
- 1 green chilli pepper (optional)
- 2 teaspoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- salt & pepper (to season)
For The Lahmacun Accompaniments
- 15 cherry tomatoes (sliced)
- 1 medium onion (peeled & sliced into half moons)
- 1 large lemon (quartered)
- ½ bunch flat leaf parsley (or coriander )
- ½ teaspoon sumac
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses
Instructions
For The Lahmacun Dough
- First of all, add your flour to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle your salt over it.
- Mix it around and then make a well in the middle before adding your water.
- Stir the flour round, into the water a couple of times just to start mixing it together and then add your yoghurt.
- Now you can start to mix everything together with a spoon until most of the mixture has started to come together.
- Now use one hand to start bringing everything together into a dough ball. It might feel dry at first but after a couple of minutes it will start to moisten and excess crumbly bits will become a part of the dough.
- When you have a dough ball, place it onto a flat, clean surface and start to knead it.
- Do this for a couple of minutes until it feels more moist and has a bit of elasticity.
- And now place it back into the bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to rest whilst you prepare your lahmacun meat topping.
For The Lahmacun Meat Topping
- Add all of your meat topping topping ingredients to your food processor.
- Give the mixture a few pulses until you have a consistency that is very finely chopped but not quite a paste.
For The Lahmacun Accompaniments
- Arrange your accompaniments on a plate. Sprinkle your sliced onion with the sumac and drizzle your tomatoes with olive oil and pomegranate molasses (nar ekşisi).
- Take your fresh lemon and slice it into quarters.
To Make Your Lahmacun
- Preheat your oven to
230 °C. - Divide your dough ball into 4 equal pieces.
- Take your oven tray or baking sheet and place now cut a piece of greaseproof paper (parchment paper) to roughly the same size as your tray.
- Place the tray in the oven to heat up and keep your paper to one side.
- Now lightly dust a clean, flat surface with flour and use your rolling pin to roll out your first dough ball.
- Keep rolling until you have a very thin circle, dusting with more flour when necessary then it doesn't stick to the surface or your rolling pin.
- When you have a very thin dough circle, carefully place it onto your greaseproof paper.
- Now take roughly one quarter of your lahmacun meat mixture and place it in the centre of your dough circle.
- Use your hands or the back of a spoon to spread the mixture all over the dough, getting as close to the edges as you can.
- When you have a very hot oven remove the hot tray and carefully lift the paper with your lahmacun onto the tray.
- Place the tray on the very bottom shelf of the oven for around 10-15 minutes to get the beginnings of a crisp base. The edges should be crisp.
- Depending on your oven size and style, this process can be shorter or longer in length by a few minutes.
- Whilst the lahmacun is in the oven, you can roll out the next dough ball and top it with the meat topping.
- When your lahmacun is cooked, remove from the oven and either serve immediately or keep to one side until you have cooked the rest.
- To eat your lahmacun, give the topping a good squeeze of lemon juice, place some of your salad over the top and loosely roll it to create a lahmacun wrap. Delicious!
Notes
- As with all of our recipes, the calorie content for lahmacun is meant as a general guide and will vary depending on the ingredients you use.
- This recipe (without servings adjusted) makes 4 large lahmacun - approx 30 centimetres diameter. If you are using your lahmacun as party food, you can make smaller individual ones or slice up the larger ones for your guests to enjoy.
- Our recipe uses minced beef (ground beef). If you prefer, you can use lamb or a mixture of both. Whichever you use, the fat content is important for both the flavour and the texture of the lahmacun.
Nutrition
Calories: 500kcal
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