This is a meal in itself, with spicy lamb, cooked veggies and crunchy onions on top of chewy soft bread. The ground sumac adds a citrussy flavour and is easy to get hold of in good spice shops and lots of supermarkets. Lahmacuns are originally from the area around Turkey, Syria and the Lebanon and are
fantastic as a brunch or lunch dish; they are also perfect for feeding a crowd at a party.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 lb 3½ cups ((450 g) strong white flour
- 2 oz ½ cup ((50 g) strong wholemeal flour
- ¼ oz 1½ tsp (10 g) fine sea-salt
- ⅛ oz 1¼ tsp (5 g) fast acting yeast
- 1 fl oz 2 tbsp (30 ml) sunflower oil
- 11 fl oz 1½ cups (330 ml) water
Filling
- 1 large ripe tomato, roughly chopped
-
2 medium red onions, peeled
-
1 medium carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
-
1 clove garlic, peeled
-
2 tbsp roughly chopped parsley
-
1 level tsp ground cumin
-
1 level tsp ground coriander
-
1 heaped tsp ground sumac
-
9 oz minced lamb (250 g)
To serve
- Handful of parsley (flat leaf or curly), roughly chopped
-
Plain yoghurt
-
2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and very finely sliced
-
Salt and pepper
How to Make It
- Mix together the flours, yeast, salt, sun-flower oil and water. Knead to a smooth dough for 10 minutes and leave to rise in a clean bowl, covered, for about an hour or so until well risen and puffy.
- Roughly chop one of the red onions and thinly slice the other. Put the roughly chopped onion in a food processor with the tomato, carrot, garlic, parsley and spices. Season well and whizz together until smooth.
- Drain this vegetable mixture through a sieve into a bowl to get rid of some of the excess liquid. Mix the chopped vegetables with the lamb mince it’s easiest to do this by hand. You want a soft, spreadable mixture.
- Divide the dough into eight equal pieces, roll into balls, cover with oiled clingfilm and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Then roll out each ball to a circle about 25 cm/10” across. One at a time put a piece of dough on a well-floured peel and spread an eighth of the lamb mixture over the top of the dough circle right out to the edges.
- Shift the dough off the peel into the hot oven and cook for 2-3 minutes. A light bake should keep the base soft enough to roll without too much cracking.
- Take the lahmacun out of the oven and put it on a board. Sprinkle some of the thinly sliced onion over the top of the cooked lamb along with some parsley, sliced chilli and a splash of yoghurt.
- Roll the lahmacun up and serve straight away whilst you cook the rest.
