Grilled Eggplant Syrian Pizza is tender slices of smoky, grilled eggplant topped with a beef paste seasoned with warm spices and herbs. Based on lahmacun, pronounced “lahma’joun”, derived from the Arabic lahma bi’ajeen, which translates as “dough with meat.” The thin, crispy flatbreads, topped with seasoned meat paste, are a popular street food in Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa; its cognomen is Syrian pizza, though depending on the geography, it is also called Turkish pizza, Lebanese pizza, you get the picture. Traditionally, the recipe uses ground lamb and a simple dough which is baked into flatbreads; Grilled Eggplant Syrian Pizza uses ground beef, as it is more accessible and popular to Western tastes, and grilled eggplant slices in place of the flatbread, in a nod to carbohydrate and gluten consciousness. We first encountered traditional lahmacun when we lived in Brooklyn Heights; lower Atlantic Avenue was one street away and filled with Arabic grocery stores, bakeries and restaurants, most of which sold lahmacun as take-away, much like slices of pizza. Grilled Eggplant Syrian Pizza is faithful to its roots while extending the culinary horizon of this dish; enjoy it with a side of Grilled Asparagus.
Total Time: 1 hour. Serves 4.
Support Cook and Eat at Home. Purchase a PDF of the Grilled Eggpland Syrian Pizza recipe for $1.00.
