We had great friends over for a barbecue yesterday. Its been a while since I had the opportunity to be with adult company without my toddler 'mama-ing' me into a stupour. He was tucked away in bed by 7pm courtesy of his father while I wrapped up preparations for dinner.
Best laid plans and all that, the gas cylinder of our 'healthier option' barbecue range ran out minutes into preheating, but soon we had a new cylinder installed and ready to go.
First thing on the barbecue were two 'butterflied' chickens that had been soaking all day in a mediterranean marinade. Spread-eagled inside their grilling baskets they went quietly to their smoky demise.
But I digress. This blog post was meant to share what I did with the left over chicken. This light dinner sandwich is possibly one of the most delicious by-products of any yesterday's barbecue chicken. It is inspired by a popular Palestinian dish called Musakhan.
Sumac is wonderful in that it lends a tangy, lemony flavour to anything you put it on. In this case, its fabulous deep wine colour also livens up an otherwise pale dish.
To complement this, the caramelized sweet onions balance the sharpness of sumac and add depth, softness and juicyness to the chicken.
Although I have a recipe with ingredients and approximate quantities, this can be adjusted depending on personal taste and the amount of left-over chicken you have! Its not a precise science so enjoy experimenting with these simple ingredients till you find your happy place.
Chicken musakhan and roquette in pita pockets
Ingredients:
- Half a left-over chicken, deboned and sliced or chopped coarsely
- 1 1/2- 2 tbsps Summac powder
- 1 large brown onion or 2-3 small red onions, very finely sliced
- 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp Bharat* (mixed Arabic spices)
- Salt to taste
- A handful of roquette leaves (leaf only, no nasty stems)
- Pita pockets, sliced open to make a sandwich
*these can also be bought ready from specialized stores
Method:
Pour the olive oil into a frying pan and add the onions cold (here we want to gently fry the onions till they are caramelized not burned)
Once the onions are a deep caramel colour, soft and transluscent, add the chicken and stir to amalgamate the two ingredients together.
Add the sumac and the bharat, stir through to coat the mixture evenly.
Add salt to taste.
Line the pita bread pocket with a good bunch of rocket leaves then fill with the chicken mixture.
Tuck in!
Best laid plans and all that, the gas cylinder of our 'healthier option' barbecue range ran out minutes into preheating, but soon we had a new cylinder installed and ready to go.
First thing on the barbecue were two 'butterflied' chickens that had been soaking all day in a mediterranean marinade. Spread-eagled inside their grilling baskets they went quietly to their smoky demise.
The result was juicy, fragrant chicken, with the prominent yet subtle flavour of thyme (from my the garden، dried the week before).
I also made a chargrilled bell pepper salad with...a twist. Before I go further, I must confess that my knowledge of chile peppers was limited when I embarked on this culinary exprience and I wish I had found this visual guide before deciding to use these interesting looking peppers. I just thought they looked pretty and would add some interest to my sweet pepper salad.
The malificent, yet pretty looking scotch bonnet.
It turns out this is a close relative of the habanero, which is described by http://www.missvickie.com/ here in no uncertain terms:
The malificent, yet pretty looking scotch bonnet.
It turns out this is a close relative of the habanero, which is described by http://www.missvickie.com/ here in no uncertain terms:
"For the uninitiated even a tiny piece of Habanero would cause intense and prolonged oral suffering."If ones tastebuds remain intact after sampling them, apparently:
"Underneath the heat is a delicate plum-tomato apple-like flavour."Hmm. Never got that far. I suffered 2nd degree burns on my fingers and was temporarily partially deaf after taking quite a big mouthful to taste before serving.
But I digress. This blog post was meant to share what I did with the left over chicken. This light dinner sandwich is possibly one of the most delicious by-products of any yesterday's barbecue chicken. It is inspired by a popular Palestinian dish called Musakhan.
Sumac is wonderful in that it lends a tangy, lemony flavour to anything you put it on. In this case, its fabulous deep wine colour also livens up an otherwise pale dish.
To complement this, the caramelized sweet onions balance the sharpness of sumac and add depth, softness and juicyness to the chicken.
Although I have a recipe with ingredients and approximate quantities, this can be adjusted depending on personal taste and the amount of left-over chicken you have! Its not a precise science so enjoy experimenting with these simple ingredients till you find your happy place.
Chicken musakhan and roquette in pita pockets
Ingredients:
- Half a left-over chicken, deboned and sliced or chopped coarsely
- 1 1/2- 2 tbsps Summac powder
- 1 large brown onion or 2-3 small red onions, very finely sliced
- 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp Bharat* (mixed Arabic spices)
- Salt to taste
- A handful of roquette leaves (leaf only, no nasty stems)
- Pita pockets, sliced open to make a sandwich
*these can also be bought ready from specialized stores
Method:
Pour the olive oil into a frying pan and add the onions cold (here we want to gently fry the onions till they are caramelized not burned)
Once the onions are a deep caramel colour, soft and transluscent, add the chicken and stir to amalgamate the two ingredients together.
Add the sumac and the bharat, stir through to coat the mixture evenly.
Add salt to taste.
Line the pita bread pocket with a good bunch of rocket leaves then fill with the chicken mixture.
Tuck in!
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