Lebanese Lahmacun with Spiced Lamb

Ingredients

• 300g lamb mince (20% fat)
• 1 small onion, very finely chopped
• 1 medium tomato, grated (skin discarded)
• 1/2 red pepper, very finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (about 20g)
• 1 small handful mint leaves, finely chopped (about 10g)
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper or 1/4 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• good crack of black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 6 thin flatbreads or large flour tortillas (about 22cm)
• olive oil, for brushing
• 1 red onion, halved and very thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp sumac
• 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• small handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Method

1. Get the BBQ ripping hot — a single high-heat zone, grate clean and oiled — or crank the oven to 240°C/220°C fan with a heavy baking tray or pizza stone heating inside. Lahmacun needs fierce, dry heat: the topping has to cook in minutes without drying the bread to a cracker.
2. Make the sumac-lemon onions first so they soften while you work. Toss the sliced red onion with the sumac, flaky salt and the lemon juice in a small bowl, then scrunch with your hands for a full 30 seconds. The onion should turn rosy and start to slacken — the acid pulls the raw bite out and draws the sumac through.
3. Grate the tomato on the coarse side of a box grater straight into a sieve set over a bowl. Press gently and let it drain for a couple of minutes, then discard the watery juice. Too much liquid here and the flatbread goes soggy before the meat cooks.
4. In a mixing bowl, combine the lamb mince with the drained tomato pulp, chopped onion, red pepper, garlic, parsley, mint, tomato purée and pomegranate molasses. Add the cumin, paprika, cinnamon and Aleppo pepper directly into the mix — they'll bloom in the lamb fat as it cooks on the fierce heat, going from dusty to fragrant in the first minute on the grate. Add the sea salt, black pepper and olive oil.
5. Mix with your hands for a full minute until it looks like a loose, almost spreadable paste. Pinch off a tiny piece, fry it in a dry pan for 30 seconds and taste — season again if it needs it, because once it's on the bread you can't fix it. If the mix holds its shape like a meatball, it's too dry; a splash more olive oil loosens it.
6. Lay a flatbread on a board and spread 2–3 heaped tablespoons of the lamb mixture across it in a thin, even layer, right to the edges. Thin is the whole point — you should almost see the bread through the topping in places. Any thicker and the meat stays raw while the base burns.
7. Cook the lahmacun one or two at a time — don't crowd the grate or the tray. Crowded, the heat drops, the bread steams instead of crisping, and you end up with pale, floppy flatbreads weeping fat. On the BBQ, slide them topping-side up, close the lid and cook for 3–4 minutes: the base should char in patches and crisp underneath, the lamb turning from pink to deep brown with the fat just glistening. In the oven, slide onto the preheated tray and bake 5–6 minutes until the bread edges blister and the meat shows no pink.
8. Pull each one off as it's done and stack on a board. Don't worry if they go slightly floppy — that's correct. A shattering-crisp lahmacun is overcooked.
9. To serve: squeeze a wedge of lemon over each hot lahmacun — the acid wakes up the cumin and cinnamon and cuts through the lamb fat. Pile a small handful of the sumac-lemon onions and the chopped parsley down the centre, drizzle with extra pomegranate molasses, add a spoon of thick Greek yoghurt and a few torn mint leaves, finish with a pinch of sumac, then roll up tight into a cigar. Eat standing up, or wrap in greaseproof for the picnic.