A simple lamajo recipe - all about spicy Asian pizza

The dish with the mysterious name Lamaggio is considered to be primordially Armenian. But this is not so. The homeland of meat-filled cakes is the Arab countries, which brought their traditional food to the lands of Armenia during the military invasions of the 7th century. If the military campaigns of that era were not very successful, then with the lamaggio, the situation was exactly the opposite. The dish has taken root so much that it has become a favorite in the culinary of Armenia and remains so to this day.

As soon as they don’t call this Asian pizza - both lagmajo and lamacho ... Wikipedia brings clarity - depending on who cooks this dish, that’s the name. If they are Armenians, then lamaggio, or lahmaggio. If the Turks - Lahmajun. If the Arabs - lahm bi-ajin. O means it is the same for all peoples - meat with dough.

Making lamajo at home is not difficult - Russian people with their usual savvy have long learned how to cook it without any tandoor, even just in a frying pan. The secrets of cooking this popular oriental dish will be considered step by step.

Features of lamaggio cakes

Every housewife knows how to cook lamajo in Armenia. The dish is not served on special occasions, such as lamb ribs in the oven. But they approach him skillfully and creatively.

• The dish is a tortilla with meat filling. The cake should have a soft structure, and the filling should be as juicy as possible.
• As the meat for the recipe for lamajo, lamb is used. However, even Armenians today allow replacing part of the mutton with pork.
• For the test of classic Armenian lamajos, yogurt is used. This is a fermented milk drink made from fermented boiled milk of cows, goats, sheep or a mixture. Of course, it is absolutely impossible to find matsoni in Russia, so it is customary to use ordinary kefir instead.
• Lamaggio filling must be liquid. This tortilla radically different from Italian pizza. It should be easily spread on the dough and soak it. To achieve this consistency, add water to the minced meat and mix it well.
• Traditionally, minced meat is used in Armenian cuisine. For lamajo, this is not acceptable, since the consistency of its filling should be liquid. The meat should be minced, at least 2 times.
• Spread the filling on the tortillas with a thin layer. Otherwise, during baking, it will spread and burn, which will ruin the dough.
• The taste of the dish is spicy, spicy. It is formed by the abundance of oriental spices traditionally used in Armenian cuisine: lamajo requires the use of cilantro, purple basil, thyme in the recipe. There should be a lot of herbs.
• To slightly soften the taste of the dish, it is served with a tang. This is another Armenian sour-milk drink, an analogue of our yogurt. They make it from milk with the addition of yeast and salted water.

Cooking Lamaggio

The classic lamaggio recipe is simple. For cooking you will need:

• yogurt (can be replaced with kefir) - 200 ml;
• water - 100 ml;
• flour - 500 g;
• salt - a pinch;
• lemon juice;
• lamb (pulp) - 500 g;
• onions - 2 large heads;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• tomato paste - a tablespoon with a slide;
• cilantro herbs, basil, thyme - a large bunch;
• salt and black pepper.

Cooking

1. Sift the flour into a deep bowl. Form a depression and pour in yogurt (kefir), water and salt. Knead from the center to the edges, gradually stirring in the flour. When the dough stops sticking, start kneading it.The consistency of the mass should be steep, about the same as for dumplings. After thoroughly kneading on the table, wrap the mass in a bag and put in the refrigerator.
2. Grind the meat in a meat grinder.
3. Peel greens from thick legs, grind together with onions and garlic in a blender until gruel.
4. Mix the mass with meat, add tomato paste, salt and pepper from the heart.
5. Stir the minced meat thoroughly, add water if necessary and stir again.
6. Form the dough into a "loaf", divide into equal pieces. Roll them up into balls (their size roughly corresponds to balls for table tennis). Flatten each, sprinkle with flour and roll into a thin cake. Its width should be like that of pita bread, that is, it is almost translucent.
7. Grease a baking sheet with butter and place cakes on it.
8. Spread the minced meat with a thin layer.
9. Preheat the oven to 220 °, place the lamajo in it and bake for 8 minutes. Finished cakes should be browned around the edges.
10. The dish is ready!

Serve lamaggio to the table!

How to make lamajo, we know, but how to serve it properly? It turns out that in Armenian cuisine there are several recommendations in this regard.

• Meat cakes should be served hot.
• Before serving, each should be sprinkled with lemon juice.
• The dish is not portioned, served with a slide on one plate. To fold the hill, you need to lay the bottom cake with the filling up, put the next with the filling down. Next next up again, then again from the bottom. So the filling will not “smear” the neighboring cakes. And lamaggio should be taken from the plate in a "closed form", that is, a couple of cakes immediately.
• The sharp taste of the dish can somewhat soften the Armenian tan, with which it is customary to drink flat cakes. However, it’s impossible to “get” this milk drink from us. But you can cook it yourself. To do this, take boiled milk, warm slightly, add the right amount of bacteria for natural yogurt (sold in any supermarket). After ripening, pour in the finished yogurt mineral slightly salty water in a proportion of three to one. So you get homemade Armenian tang.

Be sure to try the juicy and spicy lamajo cakes! A recipe with photos on our website will help to prepare them no worse than Armenian housewives!

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