Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza)
I recently made something like a vegan lahmacun, or turkish pizza as it is also sometimes called, so I decided to share the recipe with you.
I have noticed so many times that some smells or flavours bring back memories of certain situations or feelings… They feel like pieces of some stories from ages ago. The same happened with this simple Turkish dish, lahmacun.
I first tried it more than ten years ago in a Turkish place in Amsterdam. So convinced of my love for spicy food, I gladly said “yes” to a generous pinch of chilli, despite my friend’s warning not to have it extra spicy. I think I barely managed to eat a half of it before my brain started to melt through all the holes on my face. I felt a bit sorry to have made that mistake, because the meal was otherwise really tasty.
A few years later, on a hitchhike journey through northern Turkey to Caucasus, I caught a second chance for a home-made lahmacun. F. was a truck driver in whose company we spent a whole day, riding from Bolu to Samsun.
He didn’t speak any English, and we only knew a few Turkish words. We managed to communicate with our hands and feet. He invited us for some tea at a truck drivers’ resting point, and also took us to a dining place with home-made Turkish food.
We experienced the hospitality of Turkish truck drivers on several occasions. Besides giving us a lift, they would always treat us with a lunch and some tea on the way. Our F. was no exception; he ordered a stew for himself, and for each of us a lahmacun.
Although we were still quite full from the luxurious Turkish breakfast that our previous hosts (brothers that we had met the evening before, who welcomed us to their house like old friends) so kindly made for us, we managed to conquer this tasty lahmacun as well.
It seemed as if you could die form overeating rather than starvation while hitchhiking through Turkey. I remember even being a bit thrilled to have finally tried lahmacun again. Not some crazy exotic thing, okay, but it is still a nice memory for me.
I’m glad that I did all that hitchhiking and camping on the side of the road while I was still pretty much a kid, and that I can’t really say that I was ever bored. It is also nice to have an occasional lahmacun, borscht or kinkali as a reminder of some older times.
My eating and travelling habits have certainly changed since then, but I recently recalled the famous lahmacun and decided I would try to recreate it in my way – plant based and wheatless. I replaced the traditional thin dough with a flat spelt sourdough, and minced meat with tofu. The taste was real, and I’m sure that an occasional Turk would also approve this unconventional lahmacun.
Vegan Lahmacun (Turkish Pizza)
Easy vegan lahmacun with tofu and spelt sourdough base.
Ingredients
- 100 g semi-firm tofu
- 1/2 small onion
- 8 salted dried tomato halves (if you are using the ones without salt, just add 1-2 pinches Himalayan salt to the cooking)
- 1 dl water or vegetable broth
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/3 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/3 tsp ground cumin
- 1/3 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp ground dried sweet pepper
- 1 tbsp shoyu soy sauce
- 1 handful fresh parsley leaves
- 2 sourdough balls
Instructions
- Blend the dried tomatoes with water or broth to get a tomato paste.
- Crumble the tofu with your hands and fry it on a little bit of olive oil, or on a dry non-stick pan, one to two minutes on a medium heat.
- Add minced onion, garlic, spices, soy sauce and two tablespoons of water if you didn't use any oil.
- Sauté it for a few minutes, add the tomato paste and cook for a few more minutes to combine.
- Remove the pan form the heat and let it cool down a bit.
- Roll out two pieces of dough (up to your taste - if you want it to be more like real lahmacun, roll it out really thin, to around 2 mm) and spread the prepared topping over its surface.
- This time I left the edges a bit thicker and empty, but if you roll out and cover the whole dough evenly, you will be able to fold or roll the baked lahmacun just like the traditional one.
- Bake on 200 °C for around 10 minutes, until the dough gets a bit golden on the edges. Serve the lahmacun with fresh vegetables such as lettuce, paprika, arugula, parsley, tomatoes... Bon appétit!
Notes
Sourdough balls should be soft but compact enough to be kneaded with hands and rolled out - the size is up to your taste; my measure for a portion is a piece that can fit in my hand.
You can use this easy sourdough recipe to make them. Alternatively, you can just make a leaven spelt flour dough and leave it in the fridge overnight to make the fermentation longer.
[croatian/hrvatski : nešto kao lahmacun]
Prvi put sam ga probala prije nekih desetak godina kod Turčina u Amsterdamu. Uvjerena da obožavam ljuto, rado sam pristala na dodatni prstohvat čilija iako mi je prijatelj bio rekao da niti slučajno ne uzimam ljuti. Mislim da sam pojela možda pola prije nego što mi se mozak skoro iscijedio kroz sve šupljine na licu. Malo mi je bilo žao jer je jelo inače bilo skroz ukusno.
Nekoliko godina kasnije, dok smo stopirali kroz sjevernu Tursku na putu do Kavkaza, uletjela je nova prilika, druga šansa za domaći lahmacun. F. je bio vozač kamiona s kojim smo proveli čitav dan na putu od Bolua do Samsuna.
On nije znao engleski, mi smo znali tek nekoliko riječi turskog, sporazumijevali smo se rukama i nogama. Popili smo čaj na odmorištu za vozače kamiona i sjeli u gostionicu za vozače. Više smo puta iskusili gostoljubivost turskih kamiondžija, koji su nas redovito častili hranom i pićem na svakoj pauzi od vožnje. Naš F. nije bio izuzetak.
Sebi je naručio neko varivo, a nama svakome po jedan lahmacun. Iako smo se već ujutro bili najeli raskošnog turskog doručka koji su pripremili naši prošli domaćini, braća koju smo upoznali tu večer kada smo neplanirano završili u Boluu i koji su nas primili u svoju kuću kao stare prijatelje, uspjeli smo riješiti i taj (vrlo ukusan) lahmacun.
Kada stopiraš po Turskoj očito ćeš prije umrijeti od sitosti nego ostati gladan. Sjećam se da sam bila lagano oduševljena što sam napokon opet probala lahmacun. Sigurno nije neka egzotika, ali eto, neke takve sitnice kasnije budu razlog zašto te miris lahmacuna podsjeti na stop po sjevernoj Turskoj.
Drago mi je i da sam ispucala sav taj autostop i kampiranje uz cestu dok sam još bila dovoljno mlada, i da ne mogu reći da mi je ikad bilo dosadno. A i da me tu i tamo neki lahmacun, boršč ili kinkali može podsjetiti na neku staru zgodu.
Danas i jedem i putujem dosta drugačije nego tada, ali sam se nedavno sjetila tog slavnog lahmacuna i odlučila napraviti nešto slično. Tradicionalno tanko tijesto sam zamijenila tankom pogačom od pirovog kiselog tijesta, a mljeveno meso tofuom. Okus je bio pravi, vjerujem da bi i poneki Turčin odobrio.
Sastojci
[za 2 porcije]
100 g polutvrdog tofua
1/2 male glavice luka
8 polovica slanih sušenih rajčica (ako koristite rajčice koje nisu soljene, dodajte prstohvat-dva himalajske soli za vrijeme kujanja)
1 dl vode ili povrtnog temeljca
1 režanj češnjaka
1/3 čajne žličice mljevenog crnog papra
1/3 čajne žličice mljevenog kumina
1/3 čajne žličice kajenskog papra
1 čajna žličica mljevene slatke paprike
1 jušna žlica soja sosa
1 (manja) šaka svježeg peršina
2 kuglice kiselog tijesta (radila sam ga prema ovom receptu); mekanog ali dovoljno gustog da se može mijesiti rukama i valjati – veličina prema ukusu, meni je mjera za porciju da mi stane u otvorenu šaku
Postupak
Izblendajte suhe rajčice s vodom ili temeljcem kako biste dobili pastu od rajčica. Razmrvite tofu i pecite ga na malo maslinovog ulja ili na suhoj tavi minutu-dvije na srednjoj vatri. Dodajte sitno narezani luk, češnjak, začine, soja sos i dvije žlice vode ako niste koristili ulje. Prodinstajte nekoliko minuta, dodajte pastu od rajčice i sitno narezani peršin, te nastavite kuhati još nekoliko minuta dok se sve ne sjedini. Maknite smjesu s vatre i ostavite da se malo ohladi. Razvaljajte dva tanka komada tijesta (prema ukusu – ako želite da bude što sličnije pravom lahmacunu, izvaljajte čitavo tijesto potpuno tanko, na debljinu oko 2 mm) i rasporedite smjesu od tofua i rajčice po cijeloj površini tijesta. Ja sam ovaj put ostavila deblje i prazne rubove, ali ako sve ravnomjerno izvaljate i prekrijete, moći ćete kasnije srolati vaš lahmacun k’o pravi. Pecite na 200 °C oko 10 minuta, odnosno dok tijesto lagano malo ne porumeni. Poslužite u kombinaciji sa svježim povrćem – rikulom, peršinom, paprikom, rajčicom ili već po želji.
Dobar tek!
