Meliz Berg’s budget-friendly Turkish pizzas
Get set for a fun, budget-friendly dinner with a little taste of Turkey. Meliz is back behind the hob putting her twist on a family favourite - super thin, crispy flatbreads topped with a flavour-packed mixture of minced meat with peppers, tomato, fresh herbs and earthy spices.
Turkish pizzas
Serves 8
Ingredients
For the pizzas:
2 large onions, peeled, roughly chopped
2 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 large romano pepper, cored, roughly chopped
1 small charleston pepper or a very small green bell pepper, cored, roughly chopped (or use a hot, green sivri biber for extra heat)
50g fresh flat leaf parsley, very finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, peeled, finely grated
400g 15-20% fat beef mince
1 tsp cumin
1 ½ tsp paprika
2 tsp pul biber
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp Turkish sweet red pepper paste
2 tbsp olive oil
1 ¼ tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Plain flour for dusting
600g ready-made pizza dough, divided into 8x 75g pieces
For the salad:
2 brown onions, peeled and very finely sliced
25g fresh flat leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp sea salt flakes
1 tbsp sumac
To serve with:
Lemon wedges
Pickled peppers (optional)
Sliced tomatoes (optional)
Finely shredded red cabbage (optional)
Pomegranate molasses (optional)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to the highest setting possible, at least 260℃ / 240℃ fan.
2. Blitz the onions, tomatoes, peppers and parsley together in a food processor, then place them into a sieve over a large bowl so the excess liquid drains for 10 minutes, but don’t push down on the mixture – just allow the juices to release naturally.
3. Pour out all the juices from the bowl, then transfer the contents on the sieve into the bowl along with the garlic, mince, spices, pastes, olive oil, salt and pepper and mix really well.
4. Flour a clean work surface liberally with flour and start to roll out each piece of dough with a rolling pin as thinly as possibly (until approximately 20-22 cm in diameter), turning the dough at a 45 degree angle each time you roll to ensure you end up with an evenly shaped disk.
5. Take two of the rolled-out disks and place them each on two separate baking trays. Evenly spread the topping over each of the disks, to completely cover them, spreading the mixture as close to the edges as possible.
6. Place the trays in the oven and bake for approximately 5-6 minutes or until the edges turn crispy, the centre starts to bubble, and the topping is just cooked and starts to brown.
7. Remove from the oven and wrap the pizzas tightly in foil to keep them soft and hot while you repeat the process with the 6 remaining pieces of dough and topping until all of the pizzas are cooked.
8. Mix together the salad ingredients together.
9. To serve, fill the pizzas with a little of the salad, a very generous squeeze of lemon juice and any optional fillings and then roll them up.
Note: These are excellent cooked in a pizza oven, but they may need slightly less cooking time (approximately 3 minutes).