A Pizza by Any Other Name- Lahmacun

I’m short. I’m Korean. I love, love, love my Kimchi stew. I was just saying the other day to Bear, “I could eat kimchi stew, every meal for an entire month!” and he retaliated “I could eat Lahmacun every meal for an entire month!”…

So here it is. The Turkish equivalent of Kimchi Stew. Bear says in Turkey this is low-level street food. In America, however, scarcity has morphed this pizza-like creation into the most craved and longed-for delicacy from the Motherland. They call it Turkish pizza but I don’t know- it reminds me more of a taco. A mixture of ground lamb and beef with various spices is spread on thin, raw bread dough and the whole thing is baked together in very high temperatures. To make it easier for the home cook, we’ll use tortillas to make an equally delicious but fast version.

Seriously, though. It is good.
Try it this weekend!…you’ll thank me later.

Sumac,  a very common mid-eastern spice, and Turkish Isot pepper.

I take the shortcut way-forget mixing with your hands-use a kitchenaid with a paddle attachment!

Delicious meat/veggie/herb filling mixture.

A fast and easy way to cook 5 lahmacun at a time- otherwise it takes forever!

Divide the filling evenly among the 10 tortillas.

Smash down with your fingers- if you have any kids, or better yet, twins- they would have fun helping!

Husbands, as I found out, are not quite as helpful… sniffle sniffle, hmph.

Extraordinary!

Lahmacun
aka Turkish Pizza

1 onion
3 cloves garlic
2 TB butter
9 oz 20% ground beef, about 0.6 lb
4 oz ground lamb, 1/4 lb
1 1/2 cups fresh parsley, chopped
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 tsp isot chili pepper flakes, or red pepper flakes
1 jalapeno, finely diced
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 TB tomato paste
3 TB hot Turkish red pepper paste
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 lemon, juiced

oil for brushing tortillas
10 large 8-in flour tortillas

Chop the onion into 4 pieces and add along with the garlic cloves in a food processor. Chop finely but don’t puree.

Melt the butter on a skillet over med-high heat. Add onion and garlic mixture, and saute 1 minute. Turn heat down to low, close the lid and simmer 2 minutes. Take the skillet off the heat and cool the mixture. Transfer the cooled mixture to a bowl of an electric mixer. Add all the other topping ingredients to the bowl and combine with the paddle attachment until thoroughly combined. (FYI: You could make this topping mixture ahead of time and then freeze it- thaw it overnight before using)

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Lay out the tortillas on two foil-covered oven racks (5 on each rack). Divide the mixture evenly among the tortillas. Spread the topping in a thin layer on each tortilla with your fingers. Bake for 8 minutes.

Cover the lahmacun loosely with a sheet of foil as soon as they come out of the oven- this will slightly soften the tortillas to make for easier rolling. Serve with Sumac Salad, below.
To eat, add some Sumac Salad and Cucumber Yogurt Dip on top.

Sumac Salad
4 cups thinly chopped iceberg lettuce
1/4 small red onion, sliced thinly
1/2 tsp sumac
1/2 tsp isot pepper, optional
1 lemon, juiced