Lamb and Feta Flatbread with Yoghurt and Sumac

Ingredients

• 500g lamb mince
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 1½ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ½ lemon, juice only
• 2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into thin strips
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sumac
• 200g Greek yoghurt
• 1½ tsp sumac
• ½ lemon, juice only
• 150g feta, crumbled, to serve
• 4 flatbreads, to serve
• extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle, to serve
• a small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked, to serve
• sumac, to dust, to serve
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan. Toss the red pepper strips with 1 tbsp olive oil, the sumac and a generous pinch of salt on a baking tray, spread them in a single layer, and roast for 20–22 minutes until softened and lightly charred at the edges. Crowded peppers steam; spaced peppers char.
2. While the peppers roast, stir together the Greek yoghurt, sumac and lemon juice in a small bowl with a pinch of salt. Taste — it should be tangy and cooling against the spiced lamb. Set aside.
3. Pat the lamb mince dry with kitchen paper and season generously with salt and pepper. Wet mince won't brown — water means steam, and steam means grey meat.
4. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large stainless or cast-iron frying pan over a high heat until it shimmers. Add the lamb in two batches, pressing each batch into a single layer and leaving it untouched for 2 minutes before breaking it up. All at once and the pan crowds, water comes out, and you've boiled the meat instead of browning it. Cook each batch for 5–6 minutes total until deeply bronzed with crisp edges, then return all the lamb to the pan.
5. Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion. Cook for 4–5 minutes, scraping up the brown stuck bits from the base of the pan as the onion releases its moisture, until softened and translucent.
6. Stir in the garlic, cumin, ground coriander and chilli flakes and cook for 30–60 seconds until fragrant and the spices smell toasted rather than dusty. Watch the garlic — burnt garlic turns the whole dish bitter.
7. Add the tomato purée and stir to coat the mince. Cook for 2 minutes until the paste darkens to a deep brick red, then squeeze in the lemon juice — the acid lifts the spice and cuts the richness. Taste, season, taste again. Adjust now, not at the table. Remove from the heat.
8. Warm the flatbreads directly over a gas flame or in a dry frying pan for 30–40 seconds each side until lightly charred and pliable.
9. Spread each flatbread generously with the sumac yoghurt, pile on the spiced lamb and the roasted peppers, scatter over the crumbled feta and torn mint leaves, dust with extra sumac, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and serve with the lemon wedges to squeeze at the table.