Greenbelt / Blog / Reem Kelani's favourite dish!

Reem Kelani's favourite dish!

reem-kelani-blog

On Friday, the Financial Times ran an interview with Reem Kelani, who's playing at Greenbelt 09.  Reem talked a lot about Palestinian cookery and gave the FT her favourite recipe.  You can read the whole interview here, and here's the recipe for Reem's Chicken and onion mussakhan wraps:

Known as “muhammar” in Galilee and Nazareth, “mussakhan” can be made into wraps, or it can be made into a pizza, with the chicken and onion piled on to a thin dough base and baked. The latter is served as a main dish, while the wraps are served as a starter. 

This is Reem Kelani’s recipe, and it comes from her sister’s mother-in-law, Izdihar Afyouni. It serves 4-6 people.

Ingredients
500g skinned and boneless chicken breasts
Juice of half a lemon 
½ cup Palestinian extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to brush the wraps
1 tsp Palestinian mixed spices
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 medium onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp sumac, plus extra for garnish
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted in a hot oven
2 large shraak (Palestinian flat bread) or markouk (Lebanese handkerchief bread)

Method
● Cut the chicken into long, thin strips and marinate with the lemon juice, half the olive oil, mixed spices and salt and pepper for at least two hours.
● Put the chicken in a pre-heated saucepan, cover and cook in its own marinade, shaking the pan every now and then for about half an hour. Then add 1 cup boiling water and cook until the water evaporates and the chicken is done.
● Fry the chopped onions in the remaining olive oil until cooked but not coloured – add a little water to let them cook thoroughly without caramelising. 
● Add the sumac, toasted pine nuts and salt to taste. Cut the bread into rectangular pieces, making sure it is wide enough to roll over into wraps.
● Spread some of the onion and nuts mixture on each piece of bread, then spread some chicken over the onion, sprinkle a little more sumac and roll into long, cigar-shaped wraps.

If anyone cooks this, let us know how it goes!

Share This

One Response to “Reem Kelani's favourite dish!”

  1. Nathan Jones Says:

    And now there are two new free downloads on Reem's website!

    http://www.reemkelani.com/joint.asp

Leave a Reply

Subscribe

greenbelt on twitter

  • Blog: Rosie Miles' beautiful poem about #gb10 "If heaven (2)" - http://bit.ly/bDkKv9 - (thanks @nivehall and @Jo_Ind)
  • #gb10 will be featured on BBC Radio 4 this Sunday, as part of their Sunday Worship slot - http://bbc.in/9wWJ0m

Follow us on twitter

Flickr

Video

In conversation with… Kester Brewin Milton Jones at Greenbelt 2010 In conversation with... Oliver West Nick Park makes Gromit look sideways Jon Gomm at Greenbelt 2010