Musakhan – Chicken with Sumac Onions on Flatbread

Musakhan is a Palestinian dish: chicken, baked in the oven with sumac, lemon and spices, sits on softly baked onions and warm flatbread. Serve it with a dollop of garlic yogurt.

By yumbelo · 4 servings · 75 minutes

Ingredients

• 1200 g Chicken thighs with skin and bone
• 4 pc red onions
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp sumac
• 1 tbsp za'atar
• 1 pc lemon (juice and zest)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• black pepper
• 4 pc flatbread
• 250 g plain yogurt (3.5% fat)
• 1 pc garlic clove
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220 °C, top and bottom heat.
2. Peel the onions, halve them and cut them into thin strips. In a large bowl, toss them with 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp sumac, 1 tsp salt and the lemon zest.
3. Pat the chicken thighs dry. Rub them with 2 tbsp olive oil, cumin, allspice, cinnamon, 1 tbsp sumac, za'atar, lemon juice and pepper.
4. Spread the onion strips in a large baking dish and place the chicken thighs on top, skin side up. Drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil.
5. Bake in the hot oven for about 45 minutes, until the skin is crisp and the meat is cooked through (core temperature 75 °C). After half the time, stir the onions once so they don't burn.
6. Meanwhile, finely grate the garlic clove and mix it with the yogurt and a pinch of salt. Rinse the parsley, shake it dry and finely chop it.
7. Warm the flatbreads in the oven or in a dry pan briefly, until soft.
8. Place the flatbreads on plates, spread them with the onions, set the chicken thighs on top and sprinkle with parsley. Serve the garlic yogurt alongside.