The common spelling of this dish is lachmagine, but you may see it spelled lahm b’ajeen. Transliteration from Arabic is tricky business, so we won’t get all uppity about this. Lach- magine are sweet miniature minced meat pies that are popular in Israel, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey. I always thought these mini pies were traditional fare, but the author of Aromas from Aleppo, the queen of Syrian cuisine Poopa Dweck (now there’s an exotic name!), says that mini pies are “an American thing.” ’Scuse me? Lachmagine American? Next thing, they’ll be telling us that shish kebab was invented in Hoboken. Anyway, she insists that in Syria these pies were originally the size of a wrap. But Anita makes minis, and so do I. I like using them as a starter or as a side, and they’re unbeatable party food. Traditional lachmagine calls for temerhindi, tamarind concentrate, so go stock up at your local souk. I’ll wait. Anita is too practical to mess with temerhindi. She makes a sweet paste of more readily available ingredients: prune butter and tomato paste. And you don’t have to make your own pie dough on a flat rock in your backyard. Anita says prepared pizza rounds are fine, and that’s good enough for me.
Anita’s Lachmagine (Miniature Ground Beef Pies)
Servings
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 2 medium onions
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1 cup prune butter
- 3/4 cup tomato paste
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 48 frozen 3-inch pizza rounds not thawed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray 4 baking sheets with cooking spray.
- Finely grate the onions or puree them in a food processor. Combine the onions with the beef, prune butter, tomato paste, lemon juice, and salt in a large bowl. Mix until very well combined and completely smooth.
- Place the pizza rounds on the prepared baking sheets and top each round with about 1 tablespoon of the meat sauce. With the back of a spoon, spread the sauce all the way to the edges.
- Bake until the meat mixture is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Serve warm.
- From the Joy of Kosher Cookbook, order your copy for 199 more recipes.
Love this recipe! I’ve made it with fig jelly bc that’s what i found in the store and they’re great!
3″ Pizza rounds don’t exist in Israel, you have to make your own. Mini pie shells also don’t exist in Israel all the catering that is done there. That too you have to make on your own.
This has to be the stupidest reply on here. This isn’t an italian pizza.
so so good
you can serve a salad of citrus sections, shaved fennel and pomegranate as a lovely accompaniment.
thank you!
YES! I also love hummus, tahini, and a simple chopped Israeli salad here.
Hi Jamie! if you serve these as a starter what do you serve alongside?? thanks so much 🙂
Hey Debby – so you need about 1 3/4 cups but taste the tamarind paste and see how you like it and or if you want to “cut” the flavor with a little tomato paste.
Hey Karen – it’s just like apple butter but made out of prunes, sold in most supermarkets.
I made a version of this recipe into savory Vegetarian Lachmagine Hamantashen and they were amazing!! I was missing many ingredients so I made it my own with date honey and lime juice and some ketchup just so others know you can play around as you like. If you buy the mini pizza rounds the hamantashen are so easy to make. Oh and I used fake ground meat – so they were vegetarian. Check out my picture below.
Okay I give up, what is prune butter I am an experienced cook but I have never heard of it.
My local supermarket has tamarind paste, and I’m not crazy about prunes. So how much tamarind paste do I use? 1-3/4 cups?
YAY Ilana – I am so happy! happy! happy!
wonderful! thanks for commenting!
Jamie Love all your recipes! What can I use instead of prune butter?
dellicious.
I made these last week for shabbos half with regular mini pizza crusts and half with whole wheat. We loved them; my 9 year old picky eater even ate one. I made it with a bit more meat so it needed an extra 5 minutes to cook. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you for sharing your feedback!
I followed the recipe exactly. I think it was too sweet with an overwhelming prune flavor. I would reduce the prune butter. I thought the texture was better then other recipes I have previously made.
Cool remix – thanks for sharing!
YUMMY! Love the add ins!
So sorry, no clue, but they are local to Syria and Lebanon
YAY thanks for sharing the freezer tip!
lol and totally and perfect and so happy for you! let us know how you like it!
I have tamarind paste, and home made pizza dough (in the freezer). This seems like a perfect “I’m cooking for thanksgiving but need dinner tonight” meal (with a salad of course.)
Didn’t have prune butter, so left it out. Sauteed onions and added to mixture. Added italian seasoning for that “pizza” flavor. Can also top with pareve shredded cheese for last very few minutes of baking.
Delicious. I made two batches, one as the recipe called for, and another where I sauteed the onions a bit , until translucent and added 1/2 tsp cumin to the sauce mix.
Are these the same as Armenian pizza that they serve in the Arab restaurants in the Old City, Jerusalem?
These are very good, freeze well, and make excellent school lunches!