Portuguese Lahmacun is a Portuguese Cuisine inspired creation which uses Portuguese Chourico Sausage with a Pimento Marinade. Pureed to a paste before it is spread on flat bread. It’s quick & easy minus the flat bread making. But I got a shortcut for that too.
Oh, what a Treat! You don’t even know. I really enjoy these a lot and I think you and whoever you share these with will be too. They’re just too good!
Chourico Sausage
Two Chourico Sausage will make about 8 Lahmacun using about 1/4 C per Flat bread or 6 with the shortcut method using Pita Bread.
With both the Shredder & Blade for the Food Processor, add the marinade ingredients and then run the sausages first to get shredded and then chopped until it becomes a paste along with the Marinade.
Pimento Marinade
Combine the Pimento marinade. Add to the Food Processor before processing the Sausages. Since they have to be shredded first before being puréed. This makes it easier to achieve that paste texture.
Pimento Marinade
- 1/4 C Oil, Lemon Juice, Sweet Pimento Paste
- 1 Tbl Smoked Paprika
Pimento Paste
Ferma offers 2 kinds of Pimento paste, Sweet & Hot. Keep in mind the Heat level in the Portuguese Chourico too, which is Mild or Hot. For finer control over the heat use Sweet Pimento & Mild Chourico to which you can exchange part or all of the Smoked Paprika with a good quality Hot Paprika to your desired level.
Portuguese Lahmacun Paste
The Chourico Paste is made up from combining the marinade with Portuguese Style Chourico Sausages. The Marinade ingredients are placed into a food processor and the sausages are run through the processor fitted with a shredder and blade attachment.
Portuguese Chourico Paste
- 2 Chourico Sausages
- 1/4 C Oil, Lemon Juice, Sweet Pimento Paste
- 1 Tbl Smoked Paprika
Lahmacun Bread
Traditionally, Lahmacun is made with unleavened bread. Although both unleavened & leavened breads are commonly used. The type of bread used here for Portuguese Lahmacun is homemade Pita bread.
Roll the Pita Bread out flat like a Tortilla. Use a pot lid about 6–7 inches to stamp out a circle. I find that a dough weight of 60 g is ideal for Homemade Lahmacun. Roll this out flat and Schmear that Chourico Paste on top.
Homemade Pita Bread
From the below portions, you should get 8 or more flat breads at 60 g each and about 6–7 inches in diameter.
- 2 C Flour – plus more to achieve a slightly tacky dough and rolling the pitas out.
- 1 C Warm Water
- 1 1/2 Tbl Sugar
- 1/2 Tbl Kosher Salt
- 1/2 Tbl Yeast
- 1/4 C JAH Poly Flour
How to Cook Lahmacun
There are two main ways to cook these, stove top or in the Oven. Depending on if you are using uncooked flat bread or precooked flat bread, adjust the heat and/or cook time so that the bottoms do not burn. You’re looking for them to get crisp.
If you end up with leftover Meat or Bread, both of these can be frozen to use for next time.
Stove top Lahmacun
Cooked one at a time for about 3 minutes over medium to medium low heat.
Heat a skillet with a lid on medium heat initially. Wait a few minutes for it to get hot. Then lay in your first Lahmacun and cook for 3 minutes covered. The more you do these, you will have to adjust the heat to medium low later. Just keep an eye on how the bottom cooks up and adjust the heat so that you always stay around the 3-minute mark to cook them through and not burn them.
Oven Lahmacun
This method allows you to cook up about 4 – 6 at a time, or however many you can fit on 2 baking sheets to cook in the oven side by side. Which is great if you are making a bunch of these.
Place the Lahmacun on baking sheets and into a preheated oven, the highest setting it will go for about 5 minutes on the middle rack position. Adjust the cook time depending on whether you are using uncooked flat bread or precooked flat bread and how done you like them.
Shortcut Lahmacun
This shortcut allows you to have Portuguese Lahmacun done from start to finish very quickly and ready to eat.
The most lengthy process is making the bread, and even longer when making leavened bread. To skip this all together, use store bought Pitas. Pick up 2 or more packages.
These will be a bit larger than the homemade ones and will take up more of the Sausage filling. They will also cook up a bit dryer than fresh dough. But this can be limited by stacking and allowing them to steam. Unless of course you like them crispy. You save a lot of time and can throw these together to start cooking in a matter of 5 minutes.
Crispy Lahmacun
For Crisp Lahmacun and to limit the softening, don’t stack these on top of each other and serve as fresh as you can. If they will be rested before serving, then rest them on a rack so that there is air flow.
Softened Lahmacun
For Softened Lahmacun, stack them on top of each other, placing the freshly cooked Lahmacun, one or two below the previously cooked Lahmacun so that it can steam the ones above it. If you tent or wrap them with Aluminum foil, you can make these go completely soft.
Freezing Lahmacun
A bunch of these can be made up ahead of time, then rolled and wrapped in Tin Foil in order to freeze them. Take them out the night before and place into the fridge for them to thaw and be reheated when ready to eat.
Reheating Lahmacun
Place a skillet on max heat for a minute, then drop it down to medium. Place the Lahmacun in, cover and cook for a few minutes.
For a quick Heat & Eat, reheat them in the microwave. This method will produce a softer Lahmacun.
These can also go into the oven while still wrapped in tinfoil. Preheat the oven to 450 F and place all the tin foil wrapped Lahmacun on a baking sheet. Cook for about 5 minutes and serve them up Hot & Ready.
Equipment
- 1 Food Processor
- 2 Mixing Bowl
- 1 Skillet or Baking Trays
Ingredients
- 2 Links Chourico Sausage - Mild
- 1/4 C Oil, Lemon Juice, & Sweet Pimento Paste
- 1 Tbl Smoked Paprika
Bread
- 2 C Flour - plus more for rolling
- 1 C Warm Water
- 1 1/2 Tbl Sugar
- 1/4 C JAH Poly Flour
- 1/2 Tbl Yeast
- 1/2 Tbl Kosher Salt
Instructions
Flat Bread Preparation
- Mix Water, Sugar, Yeast & 1 C Flour with a Whisk. Cover with Plastic and place into the Oven. Turn the oven on for 20–30 seconds and then turn the oven off. Leave for about 30 minutes.
- Add 1 C Flour, Salt & JAH Poly Flour. Mix 3 minutes on low and 5 minutes on a higher gear. Add more flour to get a slightly tacky dough. Cover with Plastic and place into the oven. Turn the oven on for 20–30 seconds and then turn the oven off. Leave until doubled. About 1 hour.
- Weigh and Shape into 60 g dough balls and let rest 20 minutes or so covered.
- On a heavily floured surface, flatten out all the Dough Balls with the palm of your hand. Then roll the dough out thin to about the same size as a 6-7 inch pot lid. Use the lid to stamp out a perfect circle. Shake off any excess flour and set aside covered. If the dough sticks to the roller, coat the dough in more flour. If the dough shrinks back too much, allow the dough to rest longer.
Meat Mixture
- Add the Oil, Lemon Juice, Pimento Paste and Smoked Paprika into a food processor fitted with both a Blade & Shredder attachment. Run the Sausages through the shredder and Puree the meat until it's a Paste.
- Schmear the Paste on the prepared Flat Bread using 1/4 C portions (more or less), you're looking for just a thin spread. Wet the back of a spoon to assist in spreading the meat out and very thin. Keep wetting the spoon and spreading. Cook stove top or in the oven.
Stovetop Lahmacun
- Heat a skillet up over medium heat and wait until it is hot. Then lay in the Lahmacun, cover and cook 3 minutes. Repeat for each Lahmacun. You may have to lower the heat to medium low after sometime. Just keep an eye on the bottom and adjust the heat if necessary to stay around the 3-minute mark of total cook time per Lahmacun.
Oven Lahmacun
- Preheat the oven to the highest setting with the rack in the middle position. Place however many Lahmacun you can on a baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes. You can also stretch the dough to elongate it and fit more on a baking sheet.