Spiced Lamb and smokey chilli Lahmacun, Eggplant Zaalouk, Mint and radish salad and Labne

I ate a variation of this dish while in Turkey, well the Lacmacun part anyway. Its basically their version of a pizza and you can get them all over Turkey. They are so delicious hot from the wood fired oven! I want!

To make it more of a meal, I served it with a warm eggplant salad, a refeshing mint and radish salad and some homemade labne

There are a few recipes in this post post but don't let it scare you away. They are either quick and easy or can be done in advance. For the Lahmacun I adapted one of my favourite chefs, Greg Malouf's recipe.I love his food! I used his dough recipe exactly but changed the topping.


Lahmacun dough

1 T dried yeast
3/4 t sugar
40 ml warm water
150g thick natural yoghurt
60ml extra virgin olive oil
310g strong bread flour ( I just used high grade)
1/2 tsp  sea salt

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water and set aside for about 10 mins.
Place the flour, salt, olive oil and yoghurt in a bowl of the stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and add the yeast mixture. On a low speed knead for about 10-15 minutes or until the dough is smooth and shiny.
Cover with a damp tea towel and leave for 2 hours until its doubled in size.
After 2 hours knock back the dough and divide into 10 x 55g balls. Roll out to about 14cm rounds and lightly brush with olive oil and spread with the lamb topping.

Chopping all the topping ingredients together.

Spiced lamb and smokey chilli topping

200g minced lamb - not too lean
1 red chilli
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sumac
1/4 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp allspice
1 clove garlic, microplaned
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper


Char the outside of the chilli and put in a bag to steam. Peel off the skin and chop the chilli up.
Place all the ingredients in a chopping board and with a large knife chop everything together to form a fine paste. Season well.

To make the Lahmacun heat your oven to 220 degrees. I used my pizza stone so I heated that up too but you could just use a baking tray.

Roll out your dough and flop the rolled dough onto the hot stone and brush lightly with olive oil and spread over the filling. Bake for about 4-8 minutes depending on how hot your oven is. You want the edges brown and the base cooked.

I cooked all of mine in batches of 3 and then when the time came to serve I flashed them in a hot oven to warm through.


Eggplant Zaalouk

2-3 T olive oil
1 eggplant, diced
2  cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp each of coriander and cumin seeds, ground
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tin of cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup water
pinch sugar
1/2 cup of coriander and parsley, chopped
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt and black pepper

Heat oil in a pan on a high heat, add the eggplant and cook for 5 minutes. Add the spices and cook out. Add the tomatoes, water and sugar and cook until the tomatoes reduce and coat the eggplant. When the eggplant is tender its done. Season and add the herbs and lemon juice.


Mint and Radish salad

1 cup of mint leaves
4-6 radishes, thinly sliced on a mandolin
150g baby spinach
juice of half a lemon
1 T virgin olive oil
flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix all together before serving.


To serve

Labne
Extra red pepper flakes if you like it a bit spicy
Pomegranate molasses to drizzle over the Lahmacun

When eating this I like to pile everything on top of my Lahmacun so every mouthful is delicious and balanced and then fold it over and eat it with my hands. Yum!!

As you can see a wee friend popped into the photo...

How to make Labne

Labne with olive oil and sumac

Labne

Labne is strained thick yoghurt. It is one of my favourite things and you can use it in so many ways. I like to keep some in my fridge most of the time. It has a great shelf life, especially if you cover it with a nice olive oil. Or you can keep it in an airtight container and it pretty much keeps as long as your yoghurt would. You can also roll it into balls and roll them in herbs, nuts or seeds. Spread it on toast with fresh tomato on top or use it as a dip. Add it to salads like I did here. Serve it with barbequed meat or roast vegetables. The possibilities are endless!


1kg plain unsweetened yoghurt (don't use low fat!)
1 1/2 tsp table salt
zest of a lemon
a new chux cloth or piece of muslin
sieve
bowl to sit under the sieve

In a bowl mix together the yoghurt, salt, and lemon zest.
Line the sieve with the chux cloth and pour in the yoghurt mix.


Gather the edges of the cloth up and tie in a knot and place the sieve over the bowl. This catches all the liquid that strains out of the yoghurt

Yoghurt straining and ready for the fridge

You want to strain your yoghurt for 24-48 hours. The longer you strain the thicker it gets. I checked it after 6 hours once and there was quite a lot of liquid in the bowl and it had definitely thickened so it is personal preference really.

You can also flavour the labne as you wish before straining or after. Fresh herbs are nice, spices, Harissa, lime instead of lemon. You could fold in toasted nuts before serving too. See! So many possibilities!