Palestinian Musakhan

Food plays a significant role in most cultures, and from my experience, especially in Middle Eastern cultures. I feel so at home when surrounded by a Middle Eastern family. Growing up with a Middle Eastern bestie, I have had the privilege of sharing many Iranian meals with big, boisterous, and joyful crowds of people. I have celebrated Persian New Year, I have danced the napkin dance (I doubt that’s an official name, but if you know you know), and because of this I go out of my way to find Middle Eastern food when I am in a city that has it, I try to cook it in my own home because appreciating cultures from all over the world is a way to love and be loved. Most of these recipes have been around since time immemorial, and for that I am grateful.

I saw @thechefziad’s video about making Musakhan, a sumac chicken and roasted onion Palestinian dish (YUM!) using @thegoldenbalance’s recipe and was practically drooling. I love sumac, I love chicken, I love onions, I needed to eat this dish. 

To start you are going to cook down your onions in a ton of olive oil and spices (sumac and baharat) until they are super soft. 

Brown some bone-in, skin-on, chicken, and then bake.

Layer your onions, chicken, and some toasted pine nuts on a flatbread of some kind, I made lavash using this recipe. 

I sprinkled it with even more sumac and it was delicious. This is a super easy recipe and so comforting. I highly recommend trying it out. 

Since the October 7th attack by Hamas on Isreal, and the subsequent outright genocide on the Palestinian people in Gaza, I have been holding the Palestinian people tight in my heart. I cannot imagine what it is like to watch a place you have visited your whole life be reduced to rubble. To have generations of family members killed all at once. To not know what is happening with your family at all. What a heartwrenching, devastating, horrific, unrelenting tragedy this continues to be.

I am also holding on tight to the Jewish people, for they know all too well the horrors of ethnic cleansing. They have lost generations of their own people throughout history. 

Do not confuse people with their governments. Do not confuse terrorist groups with legitimate leadership. And don’t forget ALL governments lie. If history has taught us anything, it is that power, money, and land will always be more important than people to those in charge. So keep your focus on helping the people. Call and write to your representatives, even if it doesn’t feel like it matters, VOTE, and be kind. For the love of all that is on this completely fucked earth, be kind.