Musakhan - Middle Eastern Recipe

Musakhan

🌍 Middle Eastern, Palestine (Tulkarm and Nablus region) Difficulty: ●●●○○

Musakhan is considered Palestine's national dish; sumac — a wild berry grown on Palestinian hillsides — is its defining flavour, and olive oil from Palestinian groves its heart.

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
• 800 g onions, thinly sliced
• 6 tbsp sumac
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp cardamom
• 100 ml olive oil (generous — this dish celebrates olive oil)
• 4 taboon flatbreads (or pita)
• 75 g pine nuts, toasted
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Seasoning — Season chicken with allspice, cinnamon, cardamom, and sumac; roast at 200°C (400°F) for 35–40 minutes.
2. Whiling — While chicken roasts, cook onions very slowly in generous olive oil over low heat for 45 minutes until deeply caramelized.
3. Stirring — Stir in remaining sumac; season the onion mixture.
4. Step 4 — Lay flatbread on baking sheet; spread half the sumac onions over bread.
5. Placing — Place chicken pieces on bread; top with remaining onions.
6. Step 6 — Return to oven at 200°C (400°F) for 10 minutes until bread edges crisp.
7. Step 7 — Scatter pine nuts over top; drizzle additional olive oil.
8. Serving — Serve torn at the table.

Tags: chicken, onions, sumac, allspice, cinnamon · Source: Brittani's Almanac