Turkish Meat Pide | Turkish Pizza

As the name suggests, this is a Turkish specialty. Pide is actually 'Pizza' in Turkish accent probably.

What makes this Pide different from Pizza is, that you will not find the usual tomato sauce or any of the Italian flavors. So this indicates that turkish food is a blend or may be we can say a 'fusion' of European and Middle Eastern Cuisine.

Pide comes under the category of 'Mezze' which means an appetizer. It is very easy to make this dish if you have a mastery over the magical dough. I call it magical because of its versatile nature, as you can use the dough to make a pita bread, or a pizza base and of course the 'pide' pronounced as 'pea-day'.

  

Serving Size: 4 to 5 person

Ingredients for the dough:

• 3 cup of all-purpose flour (Maida)
• 1 cup warm milk
• 1 tbsp. dry yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp. vegetable oil

Ingredients for the topping:

• 500 grams of beef mince
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• ¼ tsp black pepper powder
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• Salt to taste
• 1 tomato chopped
• ½ cup coriander leaves chopped
• 2 tbsp. mint leaves chopped
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 egg whisked
• 3 tbsp. cooking oil

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix together warm milk, yeast, egg, sugar, salt and oil. Mix everything together till well combined. Add flour little by little to make a soft dough. You may need ¼ cup more or less of flour while kneading the dough.
2. Keep the dough covered in a warm place to rise and double in size.
3. To make the topping: Heat oil in a pan and fry garlic and onion till soft. Then add mince, cumin powder, black pepper powder, lemon juice and salt. Cook till mince is fully done. Set aside and cool.
4. Add chopped tomatoes, chopped coriander leaves and chopped mint leaves to the mince mixture and mix well.
5. Pre-heat oven to 200 degree C.
6. Place the dough on a floured surface and divide into two parts. Take each part and roll out into a large rectangle roti.
7. Evenly spread 3 to 4 tbsp.  mince topping on the rolled out dough and fold the sides to give a shape of a boat.
8. Sprinkle handful of grated mozzarella cheese on the mince topping.
9. Brush the sides of the pide with whisked egg and pour the remaining whisked egg on the cheese.
10. Bake the pide for 15 to 20 minutes.
11. Cut into slices and serve hot.