isithalal.food · Recipes

Homemade lahmacun

Thin Turkish flatbreads topped with Halal minced beef or lamb, peppers, tomato and spices, baked hot and rolled with parsley, onion and lemon.

Turkish · Main · Moderate · 6–8 flatbreads · 120 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

In Turkey the mince on a lahmacun is Halal by default; bought abroad, the meat's slaughter and any mixed mince are what to check.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Minced meat: Mince is the hardest meat to trace; outside Muslim-majority countries it may not be from Halal slaughter, and mixed or unlabelled mince can include other species. Beef or lamb mince from a Halal butcher or a certified pack, minced from a named species. See Beef and Lamb.
• Pepper and tomato paste: Plain pastes are Halal; they are listed for completeness. No check beyond the label.

Ingredients

Dough

• 310 g (2½ cups) plain flour
• 240 ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
• 2 g (½ tsp) sugar
• 3 g (½ tsp) salt
• 1 g (¼ tsp) dried yeast

Topping

• 250 g (9 oz) Halal minced beef or lamb, from a Halal butcher or certified pack
• 2 (2) tomatoes
• 1 (1) onion
• 2 (2) green peppers
• 1 (1) sweet red pepper
• 1 (1) green chilli
• 3 (3) garlic cloves
• ½ tbsp each (½ tbsp each) Turkish pepper paste and/or tomato paste
• ½ tsp each (½ tsp each) paprika, isot (Urfa) pepper and ground cumin
• 1 tsp salt, pepper to taste (1 tsp salt, pepper to taste) salt and black pepper

To serve

• a bunch, 1 onion, 1 lemon (a bunch, 1 onion, 1 lemon) flat-leaf parsley, thinly sliced red onion, lemon wedges and tomato

Method

1. Make the dough. Mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast, add the lukewarm water and knead for 8–10 minutes into a soft dough. Cover and leave until soft and slightly risen, about 1 hour. Divide into 6–8 balls.
2. Make the topping. Finely chop or pulse the tomatoes, onion, peppers, chilli and garlic, then squeeze out excess liquid so the bread doesn't go soggy. Mix with the raw Halal mince, the pastes, spices, salt and pepper.
3. Heat the oven hot. Heat the oven to its highest setting, about 250 °C, with a baking tray or stone inside.
4. Roll, top and bake. Roll each ball very thin, into a round or oval. Spread a thin layer of the raw topping right to the edges. Bake one or two at a time on the hot tray, low in the oven first and then higher to brown, for 4–6 minutes until the edges crisp and the meat is cooked through.
5. Serve. Top with parsley, onion and a squeeze of lemon, roll up like a wrap and eat hot. In a restaurant outside Turkey, ask where the mince comes from; see Lahmacun.

Allergens

gluten

How this recipe was researched

Method specified editorially from Turkish Food Travel's lahmacun (yeasted dough, raw minced beef topping with peppers, tomato and pepper paste, baked at the oven's highest setting), plus this site's Lahmacun, Beef and Lamb pages. Timings follow published technique rather than a kitchen test; the dough's resting time is an estimate.

Photograph from our ingredient library, not the finished dish.