Musakhan

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1whole free-range chicken, about 1.6 kg, jointed into 4, or 8 thighs
• 4 tbspPalestinian olive oil, from the new pressing if possible
• 2 tbspsumac
• 1 tspground allspice
• 1 tspground cinnamon
• 1 tspground cardamom
• 1 tspsalt
• ½ tspblack pepper
• 1lemon, juiced

Onions

• 1.5 kgonions, halved and sliced thin – yes, that much
• 200 mlolive oil
• 6 tbspsumac, plus more for dusting
• 1 tspsalt
• ½ tspallspice

Bread and finish

• 4large taboon breads, or 4 thick markook or Arabic flatbreads
• 80 gpine nuts, fried golden in olive oil
• 1lemon, in wedges
• plain yogurt and a green salad, to serve

Directions

1. Rub the chicken all over with the olive oil, sumac, allspice, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, pepper and lemon juice and leave 30 minutes, or overnight in the fridge.
2. Roast the chicken at 200°C (400°F) for 40–45 minutes, skin side up, until the skin is crisp and mahogany and the juices at the thigh bone run clear. Keep every drop of the pan juices.
3. Meanwhile, heat the 200 ml of olive oil in a very wide pan and add all the sliced onion at once with the salt.
4. Cook the onions over low to medium heat for 35–45 minutes, stirring often. They must go completely soft, sweet and pale gold but not brown or crisp – Palestinian cooks call it sweating the onions down to a jam.
5. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the 6 tbsp of sumac and the allspice. The onions will turn a deep wine-purple and smell sharply of citrus. Taste: it should be startlingly sour, because the bread will absorb it.
6. Warm the taboon breads briefly so they are pliable. Lay each on a plate or on a large tray and spoon a generous quantity of the onion mixture over it, right to the edges, pressing it in so the oil soaks through the bread.
7. Set a piece of chicken on each bread, spoon the roasting juices over, and dust with a little more sumac.
8. Return the assembled breads to the oven at 200°C (400°F) for 8–10 minutes so the bread crisps at the edges while its centre stays soaked and soft.
9. Scatter with the fried pine nuts and serve immediately, eaten with the hands by tearing the bread and its onions up with the chicken, with yogurt and lemon alongside.

Technique

• The quantity of onion and olive oil looks wrong and is not. Musakhan began as a way to taste and celebrate the new season’s olive oil, and the bread is meant to be saturated with it.
• Sumac must be added off the heat. Fried sumac turns dull, muddy and bitter and loses the bright sourness the dish is built on.
• Taboon bread, baked on hot stones in a clay oven, has a dimpled surface that traps oil and onion. A flat, thin pitta is the least suitable substitute because it goes to paste.

Substitutions

• No taboon? Use thick naan or a good sourdough flatbread; in Palestine day-old bread is deliberately used because it holds up better to the oil.
• Fresh sumac berries can be crushed and steeped in hot water for a sharper, fresher sourness if you can find them.

Variations

• Musakhan rolls, the modern party version where the onion and chicken are rolled inside thin markook bread and baked into cigars.
• A whole-tray musakhan, where one large taboon bread is topped with a whole jointed chicken and brought to the table for a family to share.
• A version with the chicken poached first in a cardamom broth and then crisped, giving juicier meat.

History

Taboon bread soaked in olive oil with sumac and onions under roast chicken, made at the olive harvest to use the new oil.

Frequently asked questions

What is Musakhan?

Musakhan is a main from Palestine: sumac-onion roast chicken on taboon bread soaked in olive oil. Taboon bread soaked in olive oil with sumac and onions under roast chicken, made at the olive harvest to use the new oil.

How long does Musakhan take to make?

Musakhan takes 30 min of preparation and 1 hr 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Musakhan?

Yes, within limits. No taboon? Use thick naan or a good sourdough flatbread; in Palestine day-old bread is deliberately used because it holds up better to the oil. Fresh sumac berries can be crushed and steeped in hot water for a sharper, fresher sourness if you can find them.

What is the most important thing to get right in Musakhan?

Cook the onions over low to medium heat for 35–45 minutes, stirring often. They must go completely soft, sweet and pale gold but not brown or crisp – Palestinian cooks call it sweating the onions down to a jam.