Mussakhan

We have a restaurant in neighboring suburb Holladay that  friend Nilda introduced me to- Layla's Grill.  The owners are from Egypt and Lebanon.  Nilda picked my dish....a Lebanese sandwich with a thin slightly crunchy flatbread-like covering- filled with chicken and lots and lots of caramelized onions and a tasty seasoning called Sumac (Su-Mock) (not to be confused with the poisonous sumac tree.)  Sumac has a tart, lemony punch to it.  I loved going to a great Mediterranean market here called The Black Cherry.  What a beautiful little market and filled with all sorts of things I can't wait to try.

Mussakhan in Arabic means "heated up" but truly it isn't a spicy hot dish.  I prepared this dish for  our Creative Cooking class and said in many countries where this is served, rather than a sandwich, torn pita in put in the bottom of a dish, topped by the chicken/onion mixture, then more torn pita on top.  You bake it until the pita is crisp and it is eaten with fingers- the pita scooping up the filling like nachos.  One of the gals in class, whose husband is a pilot, said actually they cover a large table with a plastic tablecloth, then dump the dish into the middle and everyone digs in.  And you only use your right hand.  (The gal actually said your left hand but I looked it up.  Right hand=good manners.)

Mussakhan- my version

1 package of chicken thighs (about 6 pieces)
1 large yellow onion sliced in rings
3 T. sumac  (if you can't find it locally, you can order it on Amazon)
1/2 cup chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

flatbread or Lebanese bread or pitas

pinenuts
small container plain Greek yogurt
1/2-1 cup chopped and drained tomatoes
a squeeze of fresh lemon

Cook your onions in a small amount of olive oil. Don't cook too high...this is a slow (about 20 minutes) process to caramelize the onions.  Stir occasionally until the onions are soft and golden. Sprinkle 2 T. of the sumac on onions and set aside.

In the same skillet, add a little more oil and cook the chicken until lightly done (don't overcook)  I actually did mine in a pressure cooker.  when the chicken is done and cooled, diced up as small as you can.

Mix the chicken and onions together, add salt and pepper.

In a separate dish, mix the yogurt, tomatoes and lemon together.

Assemble your sandwiches like burritos with a couple of T. of the yogurt mixture, and several of the meat mixture.  Roll them up as you prefer. and  place in a cooking dish.   For the cooking class, I cut the large Lebanese bread into 4 and rolled each one.  Pour the chicken broth over the sandwiches and sprinkle the last 1 T. of sumac on top plus pine nuts.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes until the bread is golden and crisp.  Serve while warm.

I've made this several times now and found I can freeze the meat and onion mixture for future uses.  I'll go back to the Black Cherry to take a picture of the flatbread I used.  It need to be thin.  I tried a honey wheat flatbread from the regular grocery and that was the only taste that really came through.  You want a plain bread.  Yum!