Two years ago, my husband and I went on a food tour across Istanbul, and our guide was boasting about lahmacun, Turkish-style pizza, and how we can’t leave Turkey without trying it.
I remember watching the Turks walk around the cobbled old streets, bustling from the street food vendors with lahmacun in hand. Rolled up tightly and easy to eat on the go, it kind of looks like a burrito from afar. As tradition states, lahmacun is most commonly eaten with a sampling of toppings, including sliced raw onion, fresh herbs and a healthy splash of squeezed lemon.
Well, I’m sorry to say we never did try it in Istanbul, but I hope the locals appreciate my humble take on lahmacun. I have to admit, I decided to modernize the recipe a bit. Instead of flatbread dough made from scratch, I took a simpler approach and used already store-bought pizza dough, which worked beautifully! And to add a bit more texture and contrast, my modern lahmacun is generously topped with chopped salad, a bright herb tahini dressing and an extra pinch of sumac and spicy red pepper. Because there is no such thing as too much spice, am I right?