Lachmajou (Ground Beef on Bread)


Last week we received a security warning that got us a bit worried. Since I'm the kind of person that is too used to the safe environment in Singapore (i.e., getting complacent), the news was quite scary, to say the least. Thus, we decided that we should minimise any outings as much as possible and that also meant that we have to stock up food ingredients to tide over this short period of time.

A quick visit to the supermarket thereafter has resulted in a fridge that is filled to the brim! Since then I've been cooking a new dish everyday, partly to deplete the stock, and partly due to my sudden urge to try out a few new recipes.

Lachmajou is one of the dishes that I attempted. It is a kind of pizza-like dough baked with sauteed beef on top. Once the dough is cooked, just sprinkle some parsley, add a dash of lemon-squeeze and it's ready to be served!

Lachmajou Recipe
Adapted from Tessa Kiros' Falling Cloudberries


Ingredients:
10g dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
250g bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
10g butter, melted
150ml water


Topping:
1 onion, chopped
400g ground beef
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
15g chopped flat-leaf parsley
120g canned tomatoes, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon, to serve


Method:
1) In a medium bowl, add in yeast, sugar, flour and salt. Stir the mixture by hand until combine.
2) Add in butter and water, knead by hand or mixer until the dough is smooth and elastic.
3) Cover the dough with clingwrap and leave in a warm place for 1 1/2 hour, the dough should rise to twice its original size.
4) In the mean time, heat up olive oil in a saucepan and saute the onion until soften.
5) Add beef, cinnamon, most of parsley as well as salt and pepper, continue to saute until the moisture is evaporated and the beef is lightly golden in colour.
6) Remove from heat, stir in canned tomato.
7) Pre-heat the oven to 220 deg C.
8) Punch down the dough, divide into 10 smaller pieces. Roll out each piece into a disc with the thickness of 1-2mm.
9) Arrange on a baking tray, spoon the sauteed beef onto the dough, and then drizzle with some olive oil on the beef.
10) Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining chopped parsley and lemon juice, serve.

Comments

Stardust said…
Looks very apetizing!
Anonymous said…
This is great for a snack party.
Food For Tots said…
I luv this finger food. Looks so yummy! I am sure my family will luv it too. Will surely give it a try. If I replace beef with pork, any diff in the baking time?
Anya said…
mMm that makes my mouth water!
Andrea said…
Oooh, those look so good! I have that cookbook, I love Tesa Kiros, so I may be giving these a try in the near future. Thanks for the inspiration!
Rasa Malaysia said…
Hey, I sent you an email, did you get it? ;)
nicole said…
Ohhh this looks delicious.
www.testkitchenrecipes.blogspot.com
paw paw said…
Beautiful shot.....
U have got great lights over there....!
Stay safe!
Edith said…
yo, you found a model har? such beautiful shot. This one looks delicious.

Take care.
Y said…
Judging by that delicious looking dish, I'm sure you won't be short of interesting things to whip up, if you happen to be stuck at home! :)
Anh said…
This sounds wonderful! I think I had similar dish before, but with lamb instead. :)
Piggy said…
Hi Stardust,

It's yummy indeed.

Hi didally,

You can try to make it as appetiser if you hold a party next time. :-)

Hi food for tots,

wah, it'll taste great with pork too, i believe! The pork (or whichever meat you use) should be almost cooked after stir-frying. The 10 mins in the oven is to cook the bread and the meat should be fully cooked by then.

Hi Anya,

Thanks for dropping by!

Hi Andrea,

Thanks! I love Tessa Kiros' books too!

Hi Nicole,

Thanks. :-)

Hi Paw Paw,

Thanks for your compliment. That's all I have here, great light which is good for photography and lots of sands.. haha!

Hi Edith,

Yeah, I have my personal hand model.. hee...

Hi Y,

My fridge is so full now that I have to think of new dishes to cook everyday. ;-)

Hi Anh,

Thanks. The original recipe actually calls for lamb, perhaps you've attempted this dish before? ;-)
PatriCa BB said…
Thank you for this receipe !
Anonymous said…
Ooh, that looks so yummy! And your "model" did a great job! I could never get mine to be so natural. :)
Lady Baker said…
wow, I can't believe I'm seeing this--I am part Armenian and my mother would make this when I was young--but we called it lahmajoon and made w/ ground lamb. I rarely meet people who have heard of it, and to see it here put a smile on my face--thank you for that blast from the past! I haven't thought about it in ages, and now want to try making it! Thanks!!
Piggy said…
Hi Patricia bb,

Thanks for dropping by!

Hi Julia,

My hand model is not bad, he can stay still for long time. haha! ;-)


Hi lady baker,

Welcome to my blog!

I'm glad that the dish reminds you of your childhood. :-)

Yes, original recipe actually calls for ground lamb but I used ground beef instead.
Reti said…
You have wonderful blog, very beautiful pictures.

I was browsing the same book, Falling Cloudberries by Tessa Kiros (beautiful and inspiring book!) and I marked lachnajou as something I should try in near future. I'm glad to know it's really easy and fast to cook.