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Halal-conscious recipe

Halal lamb pide

Turkish boat-shaped pides filled with sumac-spiced Halal lamb mince, tomato and pomegranate molasses, topped with a feta whose rennet you have checked.

  • Cuisine Turkish
  • Meal Main
  • Difficulty Moderate
  • Yield 4 pides
  • Time 3h 35m
  • Last updated

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.

Printable view
A flat minced-meat pide cut into strips on a white plate, with two long green peppers laid across it
Photograph from our ingredient library: a restaurant kıymalı pide, not the finished dish from this recipe.

Photo: Caroline Ford · CC BY-SA 3.0

Why Halal checks matter here

Meat pide is only Halal with Halal-slaughtered meat, and the feta on top is set with rennet, which scholars differ on when it comes from animals not slaughtered the Halal way.

Pide is a Turkish flatbread rolled into a boat shape around a filling of cheese, egg, vegetables or meat. Egg and vegetable pides are the simplest; a meat pide needs Halal-slaughtered meat, and a cheese pide depends on the rennet (see pide).

This version follows Cassie Best's sumac-spiced lamb pides for BBC Good Food, made with Halal lamb mince and a feta whose rennet is microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified.

The dough needs about 2 hours to rise, or you can leave it in the fridge overnight. Cook the lamb down until it is sticky rather than saucy, as the source says, before it goes on the dough.

Halal-critical ingredients

  • The lamb Lamb mince is only Halal from a Halal-slaughtered animal. In bakeries, minced-meat (kıymalı) and sucuk pides need a verified supplier; being in Türkiye or a Turkish bakery is not proof on its own. Buy mince from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. When buying pide, ask about the meat supplier. See Pide and Lamb.
  • Feta Feta is set with rennet. Rennet from a Halal-slaughtered animal, or microbial or vegetable rennet, is Halal; scholars differ on rennet from animals not slaughtered the Halal way. Use a feta that names microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, or one your school accepts. See Rennet.

Safe substitutes

  • Lamb mince of unknown slaughter → Halal lamb mince
  • Feta with unnamed animal rennet → Feta with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet

Allergens

gluten (flour), milk (feta), sesame

Ingredients

Dough

  • 500 g strong white bread flour
  • 1½ tsp fast-action dried yeast
  • 1 tsp golden caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 300 ml warm water
  • a little semolina, for rolling

Topping

  • 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 300 g Halal lamb mince
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp sumac, plus extra to serve
  • ½ tsp allspice
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
  • 100 g feta with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, crumbled
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Method

  1. Make the dough. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, olive oil, a pinch of salt and the warm water in a large bowl. Bring it together, then knead for 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes in a mixer until soft and elastic. Put it in an oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise for 2 hours or until doubled. Or let it rise overnight in the fridge and bring it back to room temperature for 1 to 2 hours before using.
  2. Cook the lamb. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion for a few minutes until soft. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the Halal lamb, and fry over a higher heat for about 8 minutes until it starts to brown. Stir in the cumin, sumac and allspice for 1 minute, then add the tomato purée, tomatoes, pomegranate molasses, seasoning and 50 ml water. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until sticky rather than saucy. Leave to cool.
  3. Shape the pides. Dust 2 large baking sheets and the work surface with semolina. Knock the air out of the dough and divide it into 4. Roll each piece into a thin oval about 30 cm long and lay them on the sheets. Spread the lamb over them, leaving a 1 cm border, then roll the edges over the filling and pinch the ends into a pointed boat shape. Cover with the oiled cling film and prove for 20 minutes.
  4. Bake. Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Brush the edges with a little oil, scatter over the feta, sesame seeds and a good pinch of sumac, and bake for 15 minutes until puffed and golden.
  5. Serve. Serve with salad and, if you like, pickled Turkish chillies.

How this recipe was researched

Method from BBC Good Food's 'Sumac-spiced lamb pides' by Cassie Best (makes 4: a dough of 500 g strong white flour, yeast, sugar, olive oil and 300 ml warm water, risen 2 hours; 300 g lamb mince fried with onion and garlic, spiced with cumin, sumac and allspice, simmered with tomato purée, tomatoes, pomegranate molasses and 50 ml water; shaped into boats, proved 20 minutes, topped with 100 g feta, sesame and sumac, and baked at 220C/200C fan/gas 7 for 15 minutes). We specified Halal lamb mince and a feta with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Technique and ingredient sources

  1. Sumac-spiced lamb pides — BBC Good Food Retrieved:

    Makes 4, prep 45 minutes, cook 30 minutes: yeasted dough risen 2 hours; 300 g lamb mince with cumin, sumac, allspice, tomato and pomegranate molasses; boats proved 20 minutes, topped with 100 g feta and sesame, baked at 220C/200C fan/gas 7 for 15 minutes.

  2. Pide analysis — isithalal.food Retrieved:

    Cheese, egg, minced-meat and sucuk pide: what to ask at a bakery.

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