Armenian Pizza - Lamejun

[CaryAnne]

A friend from my childhood was (or is) Armenian and I remember her mother making Armenian Pizza. It was delicious. Interestingly enough, a recipe for Armenian Pizza was featured on Yahoo! today. I hope it's okay that I post it here. I found the recipe here.

 

[QSis]

Sounds wonderful, CaryAnne! Ground lamb is one of my very favorite things!

I would add a little feta and maybe some Greek olives, just because I love those Greek flavors with lamb. Whoa, my mouth is watering!

Lee

 

[Andy M.]

A friend from my childhood was (or is) Armenian and I remember her mother making Armenian Pizza. It was delicious. Interestingly enough, a recipe for Armenian Pizza was featured on Yahoo! today. I hope it's okay that I post it here. I found the recipe here.

Hi, CaryAnne, I grew up eating this. My Mom used to make it regularly. Armenian pizza is a good way of describing it but the correct name for the dish is LAMEJUN (spellings vary).

 

[Lugaru]

Sounds great, I always used to make pita pizzas but lamb... hehehe... that can only be good.

 

[velochic]

My dh is Armenian (as in first generation, not "of armenian decent"). The way he spells it with latin letters (Armenian doensn't use a latin alphabet) is Lahmacun, pronounced lah-mah-joon. His parents were displaced during the Turkish genocide of the Armenians, so the spelling in s Turkish. I posted his mother's recipe (only I make it with mexican tortillas for the dough as a shortcut) in another thread.

24 flour tortillas
5 soup spoons tomato paste
5 soup spoons pepper paste (go to Tulumba.com for this)
1 green pepper, grated
1 onion, grated and drained
1 cup coriander, chopped finely
1 soup spoon sumak
1 kilo finely ground lamb
salt and pepper to taste

Combine everything but tortillas and mix well. It should be the consistency of fruit preserves, because you want it to be "spreadable".

Spread a very thin layer of the meat mixture onto the tortillas, going as close to the edge as you can. Cook under at broiler set at 150 C... that's what? About 300F?

Sprinkle with red pepper for some bite if you'd like. Enjoy!

Traditional lahmacun doesn't have mint or parsley in it.

 

[Andy M.]

My dh is Armenian (as in first generation, not "of armenian decent"). The way he spells it with latin letters (Armenian doensn't use a latin alphabet) is Lahmacun, pronounced lah-mah-joon. His parents were displaced during the Turkish genocide of the Armenians, so the spelling in s Turkish... Traditional lahmacun doesn't have mint or parsley in it.

velochic, I'm in the same category as your husband. I'm first generation and my parents were displaced as well.

My mother's recipe contains parsley but no mint. My b-i-l's mom's recipe was different from my mom's. Both recipes are different from yours. I'd be willing to bet that every Armenian mom had her own special version.

 

[velochic]

velochic, I'm in the same category as your husband. I'm first generation and my parents were displaced as well.

My mother's recipe contains parsley but no mint. My b-i-l's mom's recipe was different from my mom's. Both recipes are different from yours. I'd be willing to bet that every Armenian mom had her own special version.

Where did they go when they were displaced? My husband is quite a bit older than me (he's 52) and his dad was in his 50's when dh was born, so I'm talking about the 1918 genocide. His father was the only one in his family who survived. All of his siblings were killed.

We have only a handful of Armenian friends nearby... most of the Armenians we know are still in Turkey... and they all speak Western Armenian, as do my dh and dd. I'm wondering if it't a Western vs. Eastern Armenian thing, because all of our friends make Lahmacun the same way. It's also the way they serve it in Turkish restaurants in Germany and Turkey, both (I mean my recipe). I have literally never heard nor eaten it with mint and parsley. That's very curious to me. Mama Pabuccyan wrote out the recipe for me herself... in armenian of course... and I just asked dh to translate it for me again to be double sure. I don't really think there are that many different ways of making it, actually. I'm not saying your wrong, just that I trust Mama.

But now that I'm thinking more about it... it could be Turkish influence... all of dh's cousins (on his mother's side) and all of my sil's in-laws (her husband's brothers and sisters) all came from the same area of Armenia and they all came to the same area of Turkey. Only one didn't go to Istanbul and she was a doctor in Argentina. I wonder what her recipe is. Our nieces attend an Armenian school in Istanbul... I'll have sil ask around of the teachers and parents just to satisfy my curiosity.

 

[Andy M.]

Where did they go when they were displaced? My husband is quite a bit older than me (he's 52) and his dad was in his 50's when dh was born, so I'm talking about the 1918 genocide. His father was the only one in his family who survived. All of his siblings were killed...

Same for me. My parent were born in 1900+1904. I'm 62.

I'm glad you and your husband are happy with the recipe you use. It sounds delicious. I hate to see the old recipes disappear. My sister makes it with pita loaves split in half. I suggested the tortillas but she hesisates. It's not that hard to make the dough. I may push her to a joint effort one day.

 

[jkath]

My b-i-l's mom's recipe was different from my mom's. Both recipes are different from yours. I'd be willing to bet that every Armenian mom had her own special version.

I think that's like how every American mom has her own meatloaf


This thread is so interesting to me! I'm going to search this delicious sounding dish out, as my dh works in a predominately Armenian area. He's lucky - he gets to try the food all the time, but it's so far from home, I never get any!

Thank you Andy, CaryAnne and velochic!

 

[velochic]

I'm glad you and your husband are happy with the recipe you use. It sounds delicious. I hate to see the old recipes disappear. My sister makes it with pita loaves split in half. I suggested the tortillas but she hesisates. It's not that hard to make the dough. I may push her to a joint effort one day.

I'm always wanting to learn, though. I am just curious about the origins and if it has to do with where the families came from or if it has its influence from where you settled eventually. Where did your family settle after the genocide and where did you come from?

I have a lot of recipes from dh's mama and I'm not always sure if it's the Turkish influence or authentic Armenian.

 

[Andy M.]

...Where did your family settle after the genocide and where did you come from?

I have a lot of recipes from dh's mama and I'm not always sure if it's the Turkish influence or authentic Armenian.

My family emmigrated to Boston, where I was born.

Given all the upheaval and movement of families during that time, it would be impossible to say a recipe is purely Armenian or Armenian with a Turkish influence.

I always have to remind myself that foods and recipes do not respect poltical borders but blend over miles and miles.

 

[velochic]

I always have to remind myself that foods and recipes do not respect poltical borders but blend over miles and miles.

Well said.

 

[cjs]

what an interesting thread - and the 'pizza', any version, sounds very good and something to play with!

Oh my, CaryAnn, what monster you have created by posting that website!! The dishes sound wonderful!

 

[velochic]

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Lahmacun...

Lahmacun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Andy... is your name short for some sort of Armenian name? My dh is puzzling over that one.