Turkish lamb pizzas (Easy lahmacun)

Try this Turkish street food staple when your next pizza craving hits. A crisp flatbread base is topped with minced meat, vegetables, herbs and seasonings – it's perfect as a light meal or appetiser for entertaining.

• serves

  8

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  40 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 brown onion, chopped
• 1 small red capsicum, chopped
• 1 large green chilli, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 small handful parsley leaves, chopped, plus extra to garnish
• 1 tsp salt
• 500 g lamb mince
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• ¼ tsp Korean chilli powder (optional)
• 8 flour tortillas (about 20 cm diameter)
• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• lemon wedges, to serve

Turkish onion salad

• 2 tbsp coarsely chopped parsley
• 1 tsp sumac
• ¼ tsp Korean chilli powder
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt, to season
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 white onion, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. Place the onion, capsicum, green chilli, tomato, parsley and salt in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Place in a sieve over a bowl and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Press out any excess moisture, then transfer to a large bowl. Add the lamb mince, tomato paste, paprikas and chilli powder and stir to combine well.
2. Divide the mixture into 8 equal portions. Press the mixture onto each tortilla in a very thin layer.
3. Heat the oven overhead grill to high. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and drizzle in a little olive oil. Place one lahmacun into the pan, then place the pan under the grill for 5 minutes. Remove and repeat for the remaining lahmacun. (If you prefer not to cook them all at once, you can freeze these with layers of baking paper in between).
4. For the Turkish onion salad, mix the ingredients together.
5. Serve the lahmacun with the onion salad, a little parsley (optional) and a wedge of lemon

 

Photography by Kitti Gould.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.