Chicken Mussakhan

Mussakhan is an incredibly popular dish in Palestine. The chicken is roasted in a variety of spices, then placed on grilled naan and topped with sumac spiced red onions and pine nuts. It's a great dish for sharing and the chicken topped with the bread makes it a whole meal. Serve as a dinner party main or enjoy alongside a simple green salad or rice.

Serves - 4-6 Prep time - 20 mins or overnight (if marinating) cook time - 35-40 mins

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Ingredients:

• 8 chicken legs

• 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

• 2 tbsp of cumin

• 3 tbsp of sumac

• 1 tsp of cinnamon

• 1tsp of all spice

• 30g of pine nuts

• 3 large red onions thinly sliced

• 3/4 naan breads or 5 pittas

• 2.5 tsp of black pepper

• 2.5 tsp of salt

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1. Pre heat the oven to gas mark 200c,

2. Place the chicken in a large mixing bowl with 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of cumin, 0.5 tbsp of sumac, the cinnamon, all spice, 1.5 tsp of salt and black pepper. Mix together coating the chicken evenly in the marinated. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge overnight. If you don't have time to marinate, leave the chicken out on the side for 20mins.

3. Once marinated, place the chicken in a roasting tray and sprinkle over 0.5 tbsp of sumac and the remaining salt. Cover with foil and place in the oven for 30-35 mins, taking the foil off 20 minutes into the roast.

4. Whilst the chicken is roasting, place the remaining oil in a pan and heat for 1 min. Add the sliced red onions a dash of salt and turn down to a simmer. Cook for 20 mins stirring occasionally.

5. Heat a small frying pan and add the pine nuts. Toast for 2/3 minutes on a medium heat, moving the nuts around to avoid them burning. Remove from the pan and place in a bowl.

6. Once the onions are completely soft and translucent, add 2 tbsp of sumac, 1 tbsp of cumin and a grind of black pepper. Mix together and take off the heat.

7. 5 minutes before the chicken is ready to come out place the naan bread in the oven.

8. Take the chicken out of the oven (ensuring the juices inside run clear). Now lets assemble, slice the toasted naan three ways width side and place around the edges of a big serving plate. In the middle layer up the chicken, then spoon the juices over the chicken and onto the naan. Top the naan and chicken with the sumac onions and finish by sprinkling pine nuts over the dish.