Lahmahjoon (Armenian 'pizza')
These savoury pizzas are bathed in a tomato and lamb topping, then cut into wedges to serve. Served hot or cold, these may be a starter, or put a little salad in the middle, and fold up like a wrap for a quick meal.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
- 500g lean minced lamb
- 250g finely chopped onion
- 75g chopped green pepper
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 (400g) tin chopped tomatoes
- 175g tomato puree
- generous handful chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
- 4 pitta breads, flatbreads or flour tortillas
Method
Prep:20min ›
Cook:40min ›
Ready in:1hr
- Place lamb in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook and break into small pieces until mostly browned. Drain any excess fat. Add the onion, green pepper and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent. Stir in diced tomatoes and tomato puree, then season with parsley, basil, mint, cumin and, if using, cayenne. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and refrigerate overnight to blend the flavours.
- Preheat the oven to 230 C / Gas mark 8. Distribute the lamb mixture evenly over the pittas, and spread out to the edges. Place the pittas onto a baking tray.
- Bake for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from the oven and place the lahmahjoons onto a large piece of aluminium foil so that two of them are meat side to meat side, then stack the pairs together, and bring the foil up over the top to keep warm. These can be served hot or cold. Cut into small wedges.
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Reviews & ratings
Average global rating:
(37)
Reviews in English (29)
Coming from an Armenian family, I grew up on Lahmahjoon. Making this on a tortilla is definitely easier, but it tastes more authentic on flat bread, (which is much more time consuming.) I moved from CA to UT and can't find ground lamb anywhere here. I made this recipe with beef and it still tasted good, but I prefer the lamb. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but I felt the mixture of spices was pretty accurate. By the way: I love rolling Lahmahjoon up with lettuce and tomatoe in the middle. It makes a great sandwich. - 15 Oct 2007 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
I planned an “Armenian Feast” for my husband whose family is Armenian. Not only was this recipe simple and easy, it was absolutely delicious. My grocery store doesn’t carry ground lamb, so I bought a pair of lamb chops, cut them up, and pulsed the meat in a food processor for a couple seconds. It worked wonderfully. I used the bones to make a stock for the “Armenian Lentils” recipe also found on this site. I debated on making some flatbread from scratch, but opted instead for whole wheat tortillas. The tortillas were on the small side, so it worked best when we just folded them over like a taco as opposed to stacking them and slicing like a pizza. The hubby was very impressed; and my children, ages 7, 3, and 2 asked if I would make this for dinner every night. That’s a keeper! - 01 Apr 2008 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
I have never had this on either pita or a tortilla before. My great grandmother always made it on an extremely flat bread she made from scratch- it was like a soft cracker, similar to boraghatz (spelling?). She also used the ground lamb sparingly, so it was less condensed and more smattered in the sauce. I am still searching for the cracker-bread recipie, though, and will update if I find it. - 05 Feb 2006 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
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