Turkish Pizza Night!

When we say pizza night at my place, this is what we mean:

• Freshly made traditional Turkish pizza (in Turkish, this is called lahmacun)
• Onion salad with sumac
• Traditional homemade garlic sauce

We eat our Turkish pizza with salad and garlic sauce. It’s delicious, and I encourage you to give it a try.

In this article, I will give you the recipes for all three of these dishes and I will show you how easy it is to prepare all this as a complete meal for just yourself, your family, or a whole table full of guests.

Table of Contents

• Turkish Pizza Night!
• Turkish Pizza Recipe (Lahmacun)
  • Cook Time
  • Ingredients
  • Video: Lahmacun Time
  • Instructions
• Photo Guide: Turkish Pizza
• Onion Salad With Sumac
  • Ingredients
  • Instructions
  • Preparation Video
• Homemade Turkish Garlic Sauce
  • Ingredients
  • Instructions
• Photo Guide: Garlic Sauce
  • Tips for Making an Awesome Garlic Sauce
  • How to Store Turkish Garlic Sauce
  • How to Counteract Garlic Breath
• Questions?

Turkish Pizza Recipe (Lahmacun)

Turkish pizza, called lahmacun, is similar to Italian pizza in the sense that it’s made from dough and traditionally baked in a stone oven. However, lahmacun is a thin pizza and is eaten rolled up or folded with fresh salad, lemon juice, and maydanoz (parsley) in between. Lahmacun is very easy to make using tortilla wraps, which are available in almost every supermarket.

I will give the recipe for making the pizza dough yourself, but if you are in a hurry, you can also use the tortilla wraps as a pizza base. If you are using this method, your pizzas can be finished in just 30 minutes.

Cook Time

• With tortilla base: 30 minutes
• With fresh dough base: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Yield: 4 pizzas

Ingredients

For an tortilla pizza base:

• 4 tortilla wraps

For a traditional pizza base:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/3 cup lukewarm water
• salt

For the toppings:

• 300 grams minced meat
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon red pepper paste
• 1 handful flat-leaf parsley

Video: Lahmacun Time

Instructions

1. For a tortilla base, simply take the tortillas out of the package. For a traditional pizza dough base: Put the flour in a bowl with some salt. Then make a depression in the center of the flour with your hand. Pour the water slowly into the opening and mix the flour and water with your hand. As it thickens, start molding the dough into a ball. Then cover the bowl with foil or a tea towel, and let it rest for 30-60 minutes.
2. Put the onion, garlic, parsley, and olive oil in a blender.
3. Combine the minced meat with the tomato paste, red pepper paste, and the onion mixture (from step 2).
4. After the dough has rested, cut it into 8 pieces.
5. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough so that it is thin and flat like a plate.
6. Divide the meat onto the dough and spread it evenly with your fingers.
7. Place baking paper on a baking sheet.
8. Bake the pizzas for 15 minutes at 200°C.

Photo Guide: Turkish Pizza

Let it rest.

Onion Salad With Sumac

Onion salad is incredibly easy to make. It’s ready to eat in just 10 minutes. Sumac is an essential spice in this salad. The red-hued sumac imparts a lemony flavor. Raw onion tends to have a bitter taste. That’s why I start by rubbing it with salt, then rinsing it briefly under the tap to remove the bitterness. Alternatively, you can soak the sliced onion in hot water and then drain it. It’s a great accompaniment to all kinds of kebabs, Turkish pizza, shawarma, koftes, Inegol kofte, falafel, and grilled meats. Sumac is readily available in Arabic and Turkish supermarkets.

Ingredients

• 2 red onions
• handful parsley
• 1 tablespoon sumac
• 1/2 lemon
• salt to taste

Instructions

1. Slice the red onions thinly. Sprinkle some salt over them and massage the onions with your hands for about 5 minutes until they become soft, removing the bitter taste of raw onions.
2. Rinse the onions with water and then drain.
3. Finely chop the parsley.
4. Combine the parsley and sumac with the onions in a salad bowl. Add lemon juice and salt to taste.

Preparation Video

Homemade Turkish Garlic Sauce

Homemade Turkish garlic sauce is a delightful creamy sauce made with Turkish yogurt, mayonnaise, and fresh garlic. It’s indispensable when paired with Turkish pizza, shawarma, Turkish döner kebab, or Greek gyros. This flavorful and refreshing sauce also pairs well with grilled meats, falafel, or potatoes.

Most people opt for store-bought sauce, but that’s truly unnecessary. Trust me, it’s super easy to make at home. With fresh ingredients, your garlic sauce will be ready in just five minutes. Plus, it’s much healthier and tastier than those found in stores.

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons Turkish yogurt
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 handful flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Create a garlic paste by mashing the garlic with a pinch of salt until it becomes soft and pureed.
2. In a bowl, combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt, garlic paste, and finely chopped parsley. Mix thoroughly. Adjust salt to taste.
3. Garnish your homemade Turkish yogurt sauce with a sprinkle of parsley.
4. Enjoy your meal! Afiyet olsun!

Photo Guide: Garlic Sauce

Tips for Making an Awesome Garlic Sauce

• Opt for Turkish or Greek yogurt in garlic sauce, which is thicker than regular full-fat yogurt. This will make your sauce thicker and creamier.
• Instead of grating or finely chopping the garlic, create a garlic puree by slicing and mashing the garlic, for instance, with a wide knife. This method allows the fresh savory flavor of garlic to quickly infuse into the yogurt while preventing large garlic chunks in your Turkish garlic sauce.
• Feel free to use any fresh herbs you like in the garlic sauce. For added flavor, consider herbs such as parsley, dill, coriander, mint, or chives.
• This dipping sauce differs from the Turkish sauce known as cacik. The fundamental ingredients of cacik are yogurt, cucumber, and garlic.
• Within Turkish cuisine, there are many more delicious yogurt and garlic-based recipes; for example, haydari.

How to Store Turkish Garlic Sauce

You can prepare the Turkish garlic sauce in the morning and store it in the refrigerator until dinner time; that works perfectly. Personally, I don’t keep this sauce for the next day, not even in the fridge. I always make the same amount and we finish it on the same day.

How to Counteract Garlic Breath

Turkish yogurt sauce is delicious, but what about garlic breath the next day? My solution is cloves. Place a clove in your mouth and suck on it. Parsley also helps to counteract the garlic taste. Biting and sucking on a parsley leaf will also work wonders.

Questions?

Please leave any questions you may have in the comments. I will be happy to update the recipe to address any question you may have.