Shout out to the Palestinians for coming up with a delicious dinner recipe, Musakhan. Musakhan wraps can be made differently, but this is the version I grew up making. The two main components are sumac onions and chicken, so we have that down. Musakhan are sumac chicken and caramelized onion wraps and they are quite delightful. They may look difficult to make, but let me be honest, I hate any recipe that forces me to wrap anything, so if I can do it you can too.
These authentic wraps are called Musakhan, which translates to "something that is heated" because they are baked in the oven to give them that crispy exterior. These are insanely flavorful because of the sumac seasoning and caramelized onions. Since the bread you're supposed to use is so thin, it immediately becomes crispy in the oven. In order to accurately make these you need to use a Middle Eastern bread called "markook", which translates to "thin". So, the thin bread, plus the sumac chicken & onions, makes for an easy and minimal ingredient recipe. But, I'd like to note that I used Joseph Pita's bread this time around because my Middle Eastern store was closed the day I went, so I used their lavash bread and sliced each piece in half, and it worked just fine. So, it's up to you!
I want to let you know that you are free to add more ingredients to the recipe, like pine nuts and parsley. My goal was to simplify the recipe for you, so again up to you. The best way to enjoy these wraps is with a side salad like tabbuleh, cucumber & tomato salad, or a fattoush salad that way you create a balanced meal. I have all 3 of those recipes up on my blog as well. Let's get cooking.
Yields: 4
Portion: 2 wraps
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time (chicken): 45 minutes
Cook time (wraps): 10 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 5 minutes
This recipe is dairy free.
Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts
2 red onions, sliced thinly
4 garlic cloves, minced
Markook bread (the classic bread)
- or Joseph Pita's lavash bread, sliced in ½ (so you don't have to go to the Middle Eastern store)
1. Prep chicken: boil chicken breast in pot of water. Add bay leaves, 3 lemon slices for flavor and smell. Remove grease that rises to the top of water. Cook chicken until shreddable. Once the chicken is done, remove from pot and shred. Have the oven to preheated to 400.
2. Prep aromatics: have garlic and onion ready. In a large frying pan add in 3 tbsps of olive oil on medium-high. Then add in your onions. Add sumac and salt. Stir well and sauté.
3. Add chicken: Once the onions start to soften, add in the chicken. Stir well. Cook for 6-8 minutes. Taste test to see if you want to add more salt or sumac. Add if necessary. Stir well. Drizzle more olive oil if the chicken becomes dry. This is where the optional ingredient comes in, once the chicken is basically cooked, add in fresh parsley and stir in for 1 minute.
4. Build wraps: The markook bread is a little tricky - cut off the corner pieces and cut the rest into similar rectangular pieces. Like I said above, it's your choice to use Markook bread or regular lavash bread. Add in 1 big scoop of the chicken and onion mix into each wrap and wrap it well. You can opt to make them chunky or super thin like an egg roll.
5. Bake: Add wraps onto baking tray and brush on some olive oil on top of each wrap. Bake in the oven for up to 10 minutes (or until crispy). Gently take them out and wait for them to cool down a bit.
6. Serve: Enjoy with a fresh salad on the side! Xoxo, #averagearabgirl
