Lamb and beef kebabs with burnt aubergine
Charred aubergine flesh is mixed with lamb and beef mince to add delicious smokiness to these meaty kebabs, which are inspired by the food of Tel Aviv
Turkish lahmacun
Serves 6
A little effort
Prep:
Cook:
plus resting
Rolled with a zingy piyaz salad and sumac onions, lahmacun is so satisfying and delicious. Smaller versions can be served as meze
Skip to ingredients
- 225g plain flourplus extra for dusting
- 1 tbsp olive oil
TOPPING
- ½ medium onioncoarsely chopped
- ½ red pepperdeseeded and coarsely chopped
- 1 sivri biber or 2 green Padrón peppersdeseeded and coarsely chopped
- 1 medium tomatocoarsely chopped
- 15g parsleycoarsely chopped
- 240g 20% fat lamb mince
- 1 tbsp double concentrated tomato purée
- ½ tsp pul biber (use more if you like it hot)
PIYAZ SALAD
- 1 red onionthinly sliced
- 1 tsp ground sumac
- ½ red pepperdeseeded and thinly sliced
- 3 medium tomatoesdiced
- handful of parsleyfinely chopped
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 lemoncut into wedges, to serve
Nutrition: per lahmacun
- kcal343
- fat14g
- saturates5g
- carbs38g
- sugars6g
- fibre5g
- protein12g
- salt1.9g
Method
step 1
Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir in ¾ tsp of salt. Make a well in the middle and tip in the oil and 140ml of water. Knead for 2-3 mins to form a rough dough. Lightly flour a worksurface and knead the dough for 4 mins until smooth. Divide the dough into six equal pieces and roll each into a ball. Put side by side in a large bowl and cover at room temperature for 45 mins.
step 2
In the meantime, prepare the topping. Blitz the onion, peppers, tomato and parsley in a food processor until they are very finely diced but not mushy. Put the mixture in a large bowl and stir in the lamb, tomato purée and pul biber, then season with 1 tsp of salt and some ground black pepper. Use your hands to give it a good mix. Cover and chill until ready to use.
step 3
For the salad, put the onion in a bowl, stir in the sumac and season with salt. With clean hands, rub the sumac and salt into the onions. Stir in the pepper, tomatoes and parsley, drizzle over the oil and season. Combine well, cover and chill until needed.
step 4
If cooking in the oven, put two or three, if you can, large baking trays into the oven and heat to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.
step 5
Put a dough ball on a lightly floured worksurface and use a rolling pin to stretch into a 24cm circle. Repeat with the remaining balls and put side by side on a lightly floured worksurface. Put a 4½ tbsp of filling onto the middle part of each circle. Thinly spread the topping with your hands, leaving a 1cm border. Gently press in with your hands and repeat the same process with the remaining dough. Start cooking as soon as the topping is on so that the dough doesn’t get wet.
step 6
Take the hot trays from the oven and put two lahmacun on each tray and bake for 7-8 mins or until the topping is cooked and the edges start to crisp. Put the lahmacun on a large flat serving dish and wrap with baking paper or foil to keep warm.
step 7
Alternatively, if cooking in a pan, heat a 25cm non-stick lidded pan over a high heat. Lower a lahmacun gently on the pan and put on a lid. Cook over medium heat for 8 mins, checking with a spatula to see if the bottom is cooked and forming brown patches. Remove the lid and put the cooked lahmacun on top of each other and keep covered. Continue to cook the rest of lahmacun this way, keeping covered each time.
step 8
Take the salad out of the fridge. Serve the lahmacun straight away with a couple of spoonfuls of salad in the middle of each and a squeeze of lemon juice. Roll to wrap and enjoy.
