Chicken Musakhan
This deliciously fragrant Chicken Musakhan, Palestine’s national dish, of which I found the recipe in last month’s The Simple Things, is a wonderful Sunday Lunch. It only takes minutes to prepare, then you put it in the oven, and you can do a bit of gardening, working out your appetite, before eating it, with your fingers, in front of the rugby. If that doesn’t ound like a perfect Sunday! Have a good one, mates!
Ingredients (serves 2):
3 chicken thghs (about 400 grams/14.10 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoon ground sumac
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon Red Chili Flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or sea salt flakes
1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 red onion
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground sumac
1 sprig fresh parsley
2 lemon wedges
Preheat oven to 220°C/430°F.
Put chicken thighs in a baking dish. Sprinkle genreously with sumac, cumin, allspice, Red Chili Flakes , cinnamon, fleur de sel and black pepper. Drizzle with olive oil, and rub thoroughly with clean hands, massaging the spices and oil into the meat.
Place in the middle of the hot oven, and roast, at 220°C/430°F, for 30 to 40 minutes, until the skin is nicely browned and crispy.
A quarter of an hour before the chicken finishes cooking, thinly slice red onion. Heat olive oil in a small frying pan over medium-low heat. Add onion slices, and fry, over a low flame, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in sumac, cook one minute more.
Serve Chicken Musakhan hot, sprinkled with fried red onion and fresh parsley, with lemon wedges and Greek Yogurt on the side, and warm Rosemary Flatbreads.
