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| Ingredients | | For the dough | | 1 x recipe for simit dough | | 2 tablespoons olive oil | | For the topping | | 2 red capsicums | | 1 medium eggplant | | 2 tablespoons olive oil | | 1 red onion, finely chopped | | 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped | | 400g minced lamb | | 1-2 teaspoons purée de piment or minced chilli | | 1 teaspoon sugar | | 1 teaspoon salt | | 1 tablespoon lemon juice | | 1/4 cup chopped flat-leafed parsley, plus extra to garnish | | To finish | | juice of 1 lemon or 2 teaspoons sumac (available from Middle-Eastern or Asian stores) | | extra virgin olive oil | | Simit Dough | | 450g strong bread flour | | 1 teaspoon salt | | 2 teaspoons (7g) dried active yeast | | 300ml warm water | | a little oil |
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| Lahmacun With Lamb, Red Capsicum & Eggplant |
| 01 / 09 / 05 Fiona Smith |
| Photography by Aaron McLean |
| Lahmacun, often simply called pide, is the famous Turkish flatbread topped with a thin layer of flavourings, like egg, cheese or lamb, cooked in a wood-fired oven. Pide is fun to make and usually lighter than its Italian cousin, pizza, due to its minimal toppings. Designed as a meal, this recipe has a more robust topping. You could use the same amount and spread it over double the base quantity for a lighter snack. If you have a wood-fired oven, heat it to its hottest temperature and bake the pide until the base is crisp and the topping brown and bubbling. |
Method |
For the dough
Make the dough as for the simit sticks but add the olive oil when you mix in the water.
For the topping
Place the red capsicums and eggplant directly over the flame of a gas burner or barbecue, or under a grill, turning often until completely blackened and soft. Place in a large bowl, cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let them sweat for 10 minutes.
Remove, peel off all the blackened skin and discard. Remove the stalk and seeds from the capsicum and chop the flesh finely. Cut the stalk off the eggplant and chop the flesh finely.Heat the oil in a frying pan and sauté the onion and garlic for 5 minutes until soft. Transfer to a large bowl with the red capsicum, eggplant, minced lamb, piment or chilli, sugar, salt, lemon juice and parsley. Mix with your hands or a wooden spoon until well combined.
To finish
Preheat the oven to 230ºC. After the dough has risen, divide into 4 and roll and stretch out to 30cm x 18cm canoe-shaped flatbreads. Roll over the edges a little to form a lip. Spread the filling over each dough base.
Bake on an oven tray covered with baking paper for 10 minutes or until golden but still soft. Remove from oven and sprinkle with a little parsley and lemon juice or sumac and oil. Makes 4 to serve 4-8.
Simit Dough
Sieve the flour into a large bowl and mix in the salt and yeast. Using your hands, start incorporating the water until it is all mixed in and you have a ball of dough. Turn out on a floured board and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. This process can be done in an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook or a heavy-duty food processor with a plastic blade and processing the dough for 11⁄2 minutes. 
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