Chicken musakhan

Recipe from the book Falastin by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley

I first stumbled across this recipe for Chicken Musakhan years ago—somewhere online, probably while down a late-night rabbit hole of “what to cook this weekend”. I made it once and that was it. Completely hooked. So much so that I immediately bought the cookbook Falastin, which, by the way, turned out to be one of my best cookbook purchases ever. I’ve since cooked a whole bunch of dishes from it, and they’ve all been packed with flavour and completely doable at home. But this chicken? Still my favourite.

If you’ve never made Musakhan before, let me introduce you. It’s a dish from Palestine, traditionally made with roasted chicken, caramelised onions and loads (and I mean loads) of tangy, deep-purple sumac, all piled onto flatbreads and finished with a good scattering of pine nuts. It smells incredible, tastes even better and has this gorgeous way of being rustic and impressive at the same time.

The version in Falastin is wonderfully straightforward. You marinate the chicken, roast it and let the onions slowly melt down with the sumac until they’re soft and jammy. Then it’s all about layering—flatbreads, onions, chicken, toasted nuts—and getting messy with your hands. It’s the kind of dish that’s just as perfect for a relaxed weekend dinner as it is for a gathering. I’ve served it to guests before and it never fails to impress.

You can prep most of it in advance too, which makes life a bit easier if you’re hosting. I usually make a little extra, because leftovers (if there are any) are even better the next day.

So if you haven’t cooked from Falastin yet, start with this one.
And if you have—well, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Ingredients:

1 large chicken, divided into 4 pieces, skin on
120ml olive oil, plus 2–3 TBSP extra, to finish
1 TBSP ground cumin
3 TBSP sumac
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice
30g pine nuts
3 large red onions, thinly sliced
4 flatbreads (such as Arabic flatbread, pita or naan bread)
5g parsley leaves, roughly chopped
Salt and black pepper
300g Greek yoghurt
1 lemon, quartered

Chicken musakhan – let’s go:

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan.
Place the chicken pieces in a large mixing bowl with 2 TBSP of olive oil, 1 tsp of cumin, 1½ tsp of sumac, the cinnamon, allspice, 1 tsp of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Mix well to combine, then spread out on a parchment-lined baking tray. Roast until the chicken is cooked through. This will take up to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Don’t discard any juices which have collected in the tray.
Meanwhile, put 2 TBSP of olive oil into a large sauté pan and place on medium heat. Add the pine nuts and cook for about 2–3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the nuts are golden brown. Transfer to a small plate lined with kitchen paper (leaving the oil behind in the pan) and set aside.
Add the remaining 60ml of olive oil to the pan, along with the onions and ¾ tsp of salt. Return to a medium heat for about 15 min, stirring from time to time, until the onions are completely soft and pale golden but not caramelised. Add 2 TBSP of sumac, the remaining 2 tsp of cumin and a grind of black pepper and mix through, until the onions are completely coated. Remove from the heat and set aside.
When ready to assemble the dish, set the oven to a grill setting and slice or tear the bread into quarters or sixths. Place them under the grill for about 2–3 min, to crisp up, then arrange them on a large platter.
Top the bread with half the onions, followed by all the chicken and any chicken juices left in the tray. Either keep each piece of chicken as it is or else roughly shred it as you plate up, into two or three large chunks. Spoon the remaining onions over the top and sprinkle with the pine nuts, parsley, 1½ tsp of sumac and a final drizzle of olive oil. Serve at once, with the yoghurt and a wedge of lemon alongside.

Original recipe: Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley

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