Lahmajoun

I Ask My Grandmother If We Can Make Lahmajoun
by Gregory Djanikian

Sure, she says, why not,
we buy the ground lamb from the market
we buy parsley, fresh tomatoes, garlic
we cut, press, dice, mix
make the yeasty dough
the night before, kneading it
until our knuckles feel the hardness
of river beds or rocks in the desert

Please follow the link and read the entire poem. Then consider making lahmajoun. Make sure you've got a full day with nothing else to do but use your hands in the kitchen.

When my son was small I used to drop him off at his family day care home every morning. His caretaker, Irene, would greet us at the door and offer coffee, if I had the time. Once in a great while she would hand me a small box filled with a stack of her lahmajouns. This was always an occasion of great rejoicing. I remember the very first time she offered me one, still warm from the oven. I had never tasted anything like it and immediately became hooked. I found places in the city that sold them, but they were never as good as Irene's.

Last week, decades after that first taste, I decided it was high time I learned to make them myself. I'm quite pleased with them. They don't taste exactly as I remember Irene's, but they're close.

Lahmajouns are not difficult, but they do take quite a chunk out of the day, as you can only bake at most 3 or 4 at a time in a regular-sized oven. Given that a single person can easily eat that many, you need to be prepared to bake them in shifts throughout the day and to reheat them later.

Don't be discouraged by the first few batches. There is a ryhthm to making lahmajoun and I got better and better at rolling out the dough and spreading the filling over each circle as the day progressed.   

Lahmajoun

Prepare the filling:

Make this a day ahead so that the flavors can meld.

Brown one pound  ground lean lamb

In the meantime, prep the the rest of the ingedients (I tossed everything but the tomatoes, tomato paste and spices into my food processor for an instant fine dice)

1 1/2 cup yellow onion chopped fine
1/2 cup green bell pepper chopped fine
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon of fresh sweet basil chopped
1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Allspice, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste

Add the diced veggies and herbs to the lamb and saute until the onions and peppers begin to soften. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, spices and salt and pepper. Refrigerate overnight.

Make the bread dough:

5 cups flour
1 pkg. dry yeast dissolved in 1 cup warm water with a pinch of sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup vegeatble oil
1/2 cup warm water

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl. To the yeast add the salt, oil and another 1/2 cup of water. Stir well and pour over the flour. Mix well and pour out onto a floured board, knead until smooth and elastic. If it feels too dry, wet your hands and keep kneading. Place in an oiled bowl, and coat the top with a thin film of oil. Cover and let rise until doubled (1-2 hrs depending on inside temperature). When doubled in size punch the dough down and divide into about 24 balls of equal size. Roll each into a circle about 6" in diameter. This took a while to perfect and it's important to shape each little piece of dough into a circle before you roll it. The finished circles should be quite thin and should feel smooth and almost like heavy satin. Don't obsess with perfection here-- you'll get the hang of it as you get to the last of the dough.

Assemble the lahmajouns:

Remove the topping from the fridge just before you start to roll the circles and let it come to room temperature. Taste it and adjust the seasonings. It should taste somewhat spicy and I added more cumin at this point.

In batches, place the rolled circles on a cookie sheet and spread the topping to the edges pressing down gently but firmly. The layer of topping should be quite thin. Bake in a preheated 500 F oven on the lowest rack for  about 8 - 10 minutes or until dough just starts to turn color. Remove and place on a wire rack, placing two together (one up and the other facing down) until all dough and filling is used up. Keep them lightly covered with towel to keep from drying out. You can stack about a dozen this way.

Cool, refrigerate or freeze (wrapped in foil). To reheat, remove from the foil and place in a moderately hot oven, one up and one down, like they were stacked, directly on the rack for about 3 - 4 minutes.

This is my entry for best of 2007. I had thought I'd enter my Apple Cambozola Tarts but I must say that the process of making the lahmajouns on the Sunday before Christmas and the taste of them when I served them for dinner, was the most enjoyable cooking experience of the year for me. And, too, I found the marvelous poem quite by accident which only heightened the pleasure I found in the day-long rhythmic process of making lahmajouns.

Late in year, but defintely my favorite for the year.

Comments

[Jack]

Warning to anyone thinking of trying these: they are ridiculously moreish. I ate far too many of them.

[Sefa]

Hi Ann,

Thanks for visiting our kitchen.
To see lahmacun make me remember the old times (5 years ago) when I still lived in Kassel, Germany. I always ate it during the lunch break.
Thanks for sharing the recipe, maybe one day I'll give it a try.

Have a nice weekend and happy new year!
Sefa

[Manggy]

I've never heard of these before, but they do look really good! Maybe I'll make my way to a Middle Eastern restaurant (or whatever) first to see what I should aim for :)

[Chuck]

I love lahmajoun, but I haven't been able to find good lahmajoun in San Francisco. I'll have to try out your recipe. Thanks!

[Susan from Food Blogga]

I was hoping you were going to say you made some. Well done! I've never heard of lahmajoun, but I know I've something similar at a Lebanese restaurant we used to go to in Long Beach.

[V.S.]

WOW! I am so shocked that it is listed as an armenian pizza. Lahmajun is not an armenian pizza. Indeed it is from Turkish cusine.

[Ann]

Sefa, I enjoyed your blog and will return to look around some more. I am glad you liked the post-- do try making it!

Manggy, if you do please let me know what you think.

Chuck, glad you stopped by and let me know how it turns out!

Susan, you very likely had the Lebanese version of the dish. Yummy, isn't it?

V.S., Actually there is a lot of debate about who really invented this dish. I was introduced to it by an Armenian woman, and I used the spelling both she and the Armenian poet linked in my post use. Had I been introduced to the dish by a Turkish person, I very likely would have identified it as Turkish Pizza.

According to Wikipedia,"Lahmacun or Lahmajoun (IPA: [lahmaˈdʒun]) (Arabic لحم بعجين lahm bi-`ajĩn, "meat with dough") known as Turkish pizza[1][2][3] and Armenian pizza[4], is an Anatolian and Middle Eastern dish usually made up of a round, thin piece of dough topped with minced meat (most commonly beef and lamb)."

[melinda kumar]

oh my gosh lahmajoun brings back memories of family get-togethers...i never really thought i could make them but now i think i can. thank you

[Karyn]

I bet this would be delicious with lentils instead of lamb - and ha! I'd finish the meal on one batch (one person to feed = one batch in the oven). Thanks for the great idea!

[JEP]

I like your choice for the best of 2007!

[V.S.]

Ann, thank you for the info and the acknowledgement. I will give it a try. :-)

[Ashley]

Those look very tasty and well worth the effort!

[Ann]

melinda, I do hope you will try it!

Karyn, lentils would be great with this-- I'd think you'd want to make sure the cooked lentils are fairly "dry" before mixing them with everything else. I love this idea and will try it for my daughter next time I make lahmajoun. What I did for her last time was mix a samll amount of all of the ingredients (sans meat, tomato and tomato paste) with some goat cheese and then spread that over the bread and bake it. It was pretty tasty.

JEP, thanks!

V.S., I'm so glad you came back to see my response-- I always feel a little remiss if I have failed to give enough information about a regional dish.

Ashley, they're lovely.

[sugarlaws]

this looks wonderful -- i was going to ask what ethnic cuisine this falls into, but apparently there's some debate on that! i was going to guess middle eastern, so i was somewhat close, i suppose.

[Julie]

It's the thin bread with the lovely browning that looks so good to me. I used to work near a Persian deli that made a similiar looking bread and that stuff straight from the oven was completely addictive as I can tell this would be.

Lots of great posts here. I'm going to enjoy going through your archives.

[Cakespy]

When I was in college I worked at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Brooklyn and this was on the menu! What a great memory.

[Ann]

Hi Katy, it was listed as "Lahmajoun (Armenian Pizza)" over at Tastespotting, which is what started the mini discussion. Wherever it originates, it's delicious!

Julie, thanks for stopping by! I'm enjoying your blog, too.

Jessie, what restuarant? I need to know!

[Laurie Constantino]

I learned to make Lahmajoun from an Armenian friend. Her kids want it all the time and she, like many of us, doesn't have time to make a complicated production everytime they have Lahmajoun. She has turned it into a quickly made dinner by using tortillas as the base. While not traditional, they taste wonderful (the flavor is in the topping).

I have numerous books (including my own) that list this as Armenian pizza. Interestingly enough, I just checked all 7 Turkish cookbooks I own, and the dish does not appear in any of them. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT debating the nationality of this dish by saying this.

In any case, there is a huge debate among Turks and Armenians and Turks and Greeks and Turks and you name it over which nationality foods are that spread throughout the region during the years of the Ottoman empire. Recent years have seen big arguments about the origins of hallomi cheese, and an even bigger one about who invented baklava. They make this mini-debate over Lahmajoun seem like nothing.

For a modern equivalent think about American standard dishes like barbecue or baked beans - if the US were broken into three separate countries and one part was still America and another was Texas and another was New England, would barbecue be an American dish or a Texas dish, how about Baked Beans, American or New England?

There is an article I really like that generically discusses this issue, and concludes the arguments are rooted in nationalism, a "we and they" mentality that can be dangerous. The article is written by a Turkish University professor and can be found here: http://tharwacommunity.typepad.com/tharwa_review/2007/06/the_connection_.html

[Jack]

Laurie - you are SO right about the Greek/Turkish food rows! I have spent a lot of time in Greece and seen some of these "discussions" first hand. I've heard arguments about baklava (as you mention), taramasalata, souvlaki/shish kebabs, melitzanasalata/baba ganoush...

And of course, there's one terrible faux pas you can make which I (understandably) committed when visiting a Turkish restaurant after having just spent three months in Greece. I asked for Greek coffee. Oh dear. The atmosphere became somewhat chilly. :-)

[Rosa]

Oh, I love Lahmakuns! Yours look beautiful!

Cheers,

Rosa

[Ann]

Laurie, thanks for the thoughtful and informative post!

Rosa, thanks! I was very pleased with this first attempt!

[Chris]

Those look fabulous. We also tackled Lahmajoun a couple months ago -- it took a while to make them all, but it was awesome having a large backstock in the freezer once we were done! Whenever we wanted a quick snack we just threw one in the oven.
The Armenian side of the family was quite impressed that we made them from scratch. :)
It looks like we may have made them just a bit meatier than you did.
Dammit, now I want one.
http://www.weheartfood.com/2007/09/lahmajoun-sfiha-meat-pies.html

[Ara Kourouyan]

I see that Turks one more time are in the stealing business, they even want to steal food recipies. Lahmajun is Middle Eastern, Armenian, Lebanese, Syrian. It is called Armenian Pizza, as Armenian immigrants introduced it to the United States near the turn of the 19th-20th centruy, as they migrated to the United States from turley during the Armenia Genocide. Let's give credit where it is due. Lahmajun was there before the Turks migrated to the Byzantium around the 10th century. What culture did they bring to the table? destruction, pillage, massacres and the Armenian Genocide of the 1915, where 1.5 million Armenian were massacred. Look at ancient maps if you find Turkey in the Middle East... please do so, and study Turkish history. Study the history of Timur Leng and the Turkish hoards who invaded Armenia and the Byzantium. Stealing, pillaging, massacres, are the culture of these vultures, and now even trying to steal food recepies. Wow.

[Zainab]

Hello....I would love to do this recipe. However, I'm a bit confused as 1 package of dry yeast equals to how many grams?
I would appreciate your answer :)

Thank you
Zee

[phil]

great recipe...for authentic original Turkish recipes one has to look at the cuisine of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan...quite different from what one sees in Turkey (which is amazingly delicious food) but most probably adopted from the local people of Asia Minor (i.e. mostly Greek & Armenian), M.East. Balkans i.e. anything but Turkic of Central Asia - some ingredients are shared but style and final outcome...quite different.