Ingredients
Units
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 cup tamarind sauce
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste
- juice of one lemon
- small onion, peeled and grated or minced
- 1 Tbsp ground allspice
- 1 Tbsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 balls pizza dough (1 lb each), or 4 matzah sheets/20 tea matzahs
- tahini sauce, for serving
Instructions
- Start by prepping your dough, according to packet instructions. If using frozen dough, remove dough from the freezer and place in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen and the dough this can take several hours.
- When the dough is ready it will be puffy and spring back when poked. Small bubbles will have formed on the bottom of the bowl. Stretch dough to roughly fit a cookie sheet. Using your fingertips, press dough into the corners. If the dough is too elastic, allow it to rest for 10 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, tamarind, tomato paste, lemon juice, onion, allspice, salt and red pepper flakes. Mix well with gloved hands until a cohesive mixture forms.
- Prick dough (dock) with a fork.
- Wearing gloves, press meat onto dough leaving a ½-inch border, making sure it adheres.
- Bake at 400°F for about 30 minutes. The meat will shrink slightly and turn a rich brown color. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into squares. Serve with tahini sauce.
- To make Passover lachmagine: Dip the matzah in a bowl of room temperature water, then shake off excess water. Place on a sheet tray and proceed with pressing the meat mixture on the dough. Be gentle, so the matzah doesn’t crack. Matzah-based lachmagine bake up quickly, so check the oven after 15 minutes, though matzah sheets may require an additional 5 minutes.
Notes
- Directions 1 and 2 can be done the night before. Cover the prepared dough with a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray, and store in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to use it, uncover the dough and bring to room temperature before continuing with Direction 3.
- The meat mixture can be prepared the day before and stored in the fridge. Mix it well before pressing onto the dough. It can also be prepared and then frozen; I often make a double batch and freeze half.
- Cooked lachmagine freezes beautifully. Allow it to cool, cut into squares, then freeze on a sheet pan. Once frozen solid, store in zip-top freezer bags. To reheat, remove squares from the freezer and sprinkle the crust with water. This keeps the crust from drying out. Warm on a piece of foil in a 350°F degree oven.
- My favorite brand of tamarind sauce is Setton’s Farms. If you have access to a kosher supermarket, look for “prepared tamarind” near the tahini. This tamarind is exactly what my grandma makes: pulp, sugar and lemon juice simmered and strained. It’s ready to go right out of the jar and is the consistency of thick pancake batter. Here are some great alternatives.
- Category: Entree
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Sephardic