Lahmadjoun Bring Fond Childhood Memories

As I have mentioned before, every taste has a story and lahmadjoun brings more than one story/memory to my mind but the most vivid one comes from my childhood.

Lahmadjoun is an Armenian dish. Some call it an Armenian pizza but I can assure you that the taste is quite different.

Growing-up in Cyprus where we had a few ethnic minorities, and Armenian being one of them, I had the wonderful opportunity to taste and also learn how to make a lot of Armenian food. On several occasions I learned directly from  Armenian housewives who were regular customers at my father’s grocery store.

While making lahmadjoun I am always transported back to a happy and carefree time in my life where as a child I lived with my family in a small suburb of Nicosia. The name of the town was Neapolis which in Greek means, New Town. Till I was 12, I lived with my family in a very caring neighborhood where everyone truly supported and cared about each other. Neapolis was part of Nicosia and continues to be but unfortunately today, it’s in the Turkish occupied area and it’s also given a different name in Turkish.

The family that owned the communal oven (what it would be today the local bakery) lived two houses down from ours. They also made lahmadjoun for living. Every day I would see the wife sitting on her porch peeling several onions and tomatoes that she would later on use to make piles of delicious lahmadjoun. In early dawn her husband would take them to down town Nicosia and sell them to workers for breakfast.

Every Saturday morning my mom always gave me a few cents, the equivalent of a nickel, to go and buy my own lahmadjoun. She knew how much I loved them so she would give me this as a very special treat. I would run to the communal oven and knock on the door. Ms. Panayiota always greeted me with a big smile on her face. “Litsa you came to pick your lahmadjoun?” And I would always say “yes, I came to buy the best one you’s got”. She would uncover a huge pile of lahmadjoun and she would wait for me to pick one. Needless to say I never picked the one on top because I wanted to choose my very own! She always wrapped it in a piece of parchment paper before handing it over to me. I never walked, I always run back to my house so I could start eating it right away This special treat lasted for a few years! I miss terribly those years but I realize that I can recreate and bring back the feelings of  security and warmth I felt back as a child when I make these pastries and share them with others and especially with my own daughter!

I hope you do the same.

Lahmadjoun – Armenian Appetizer

3 pounds ground lamb 

1 ½ cups finely chopped yellow onion

1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

1 cup chopped tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic

2 cups chopped red bell pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil

1-2 chili peppers (depending how hot you like the taste)

Salt

2 lemons cut in quarters

Dough

3 3/4 cups white unbleached flour

1 ½ cups warm water – 60 degrees F

1 tablespoon yeast

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

Dissolve the yeast into the warm water and set aside for 15 minutes. In a large bowl mix the flour, salt, olive oil and gradually the water with the dissolved yeast. Knead into smooth soft dough that does not stick in to your hands. Cover the dough with a couple of thick towels and set aside to rise for an hour.

Prepare the meat mixture that will go on top of the lahmadjoun. In a frying pan pour the 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Saute the finely chopped onions and garlic until translucent. Add the ground lamb. Cook on medium heat until the meat looses its pink color. Add the chopped red bell pepper and tomatoes. Stir slowly a few times. Add the chili pepper and salt to taste. Turn the heat to medium-low and cook for approximately 20 more minutes. Once it is fully cooked, most liquid should be absorbed. Remove from the heat and set the mixture aside to cool off a little bit.

Divide the dough into a dozen small balls of 1-2 inches diameter. Roll out into tortilla size rounds (about 7 inches in diameter). Place on lightly greased baking sheets – spray canola oil. If you are making them for appetizers for parties you can make them smaller.

Spoon three tablespoons of the meat mixture on to the dough. Spread the mixture evenly to the edges of each lahmahdjoun.

Place the baking pans in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. They are fully baked when the bottom of the dough has a light brown color. When you take them out of the oven, stack them in twos in a pyrex with the meat mixture facing each other. This will prevent them from drying out.

Cut the lemons in quarters.

Squeeze a lot of lemon over each lahmadjoun.

Usually it’s eaten as a roll.

Serve warm as an appetizer or as a main meal

Makes 12