Thai Beef Loaded Flatbread

Super tasty.

Loaded flatbreads are rapidly taking the place of pizzas in our house. They are full of flavour and quick to make, plus they are a lighter alternative as they aren’t covered with cheese.

The dough for this flatbread is made with coconut cream rather than water or milk. It gives the base a very delicate coconut flavour which works perfectly with the Thai beef topping. I also love that the beef mince doesn’t need pre-cooking before it goes onto the flatbread.

I didn’t include too much chilli in the recipe so this isn’t spicy, but if your family likes heat then by all means you can increase the chilli content accordingly.

Low fat beef mince will work best for this recipe.

Ingredients – serves 4/6:

• 500g/1 lb low fat beef mince (ground)
• 2 tbsp lime juice (from a bottle is fine)
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2cm/1 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 long red chillis, de-seeded and finely chopped
• 2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
• 1 cup coconut cream
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 small red capsicum (bell pepper), finely diced
• 3 spring (green/salad) onions, finely sliced
• fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, roughly chopped, to serve
• fresh mint leaves, optional, roughly chopped, to serve

Method:

• Put the beef mince, lime juice, fish sauce, sesame oil, ginger and half the chilli into a bowl and stir to mix. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and place in the fridge for about an hour.
• To make the flatbread dough, put the flour and remaining chilli pieces into a medium bowl and stir to mix. Add the coconut cream, stirring with a flat-bladed knife until a soft dough starts to form. Use your clean hands to bring the dough together. You can add a few drops of water if required but don’t make the dough sticky. Knead for a couple of seconds until smooth.
• Place a large piece of baking paper on your work surface. Turn the dough out onto this paper, then place another piece of baking paper on top of the dough.
• Roll out the dough until you have a rectangle about 30cm/12 inches wide by 20cm/8 inches. The dough will be quite thin, but that is what you want.
• Remove the top piece of baking paper and then transfer the dough, still on the bottom piece of baking paper, onto a large baking tray.
• Heat your oven to 220C/200 fan forced/430F.
• Place small dollops of the peanut butter mixture over the flatbread dough then gently spread the peanut butter a little. You probably won’t cover the bread but it doesn’t matter.
• Mix the diced red capsicum (bell pepper) and the majority of the sliced spring onions into the beef mixture.
• Scatter the beef mixture over the flatbread in an even layer.
• Cook for 35 minutes or until the flatbread is golden and crispy around the edges.
• Remove from the oven and leave to sit on the baking tray for 5 minutes.
• Transfer to your serving plate and scatter the remaining spring onion pieces, fresh coriander and mint, (if using), over the top of the flatbread just before serving.
• Enjoy!