Sabich recipe

An Iraqi-Jewish Shabbat breakfast folded into a pita: fried eggplant and slow-cooked eggs held together by amba, the pickled mango condiment the sandwich is built around.

4 hours and 30 minutesmedium11 ingredients

Ingredients

• 2 eggplants
• 4 tbsp amba
• 4 tbsp tahini
• 4 hard boiled eggs
• 4 pita bread
• 8 tbsp hummus
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 1 bunch parsley
• 100 ml frying oil
• 1 tsp salt

How to make Sabich

1. Slice 2 eggplants lengthwise into 1 cm slices, salt them with 1 tsp salt and let them drain in a colander for 30 minutes.
2. Fry them in 100 ml of oil over medium heat until deeply browned and soft on both sides. Roasting gives a drier slice and is not how sabich is made.
3. Cook 4 eggs the traditional way if you can: haminados, simmered 4 to 8 hours or left overnight in a low oven with onion skins until the white turns beige. Otherwise boil them 9 minutes.
4. Whisk 4 tbsp tahini with the juice of half a lemon, 1 crushed garlic clove, a pinch of salt and cold water until it goes pale and pourable.
5. Dice 2 tomatoes and 1 cucumber small and salt them lightly.
6. Open 4 pitas, warm them, and spread 8 tbsp of hummus inside each.
7. Layer in the eggplant, the sliced eggs and the salad, then add 4 tbsp of amba per pita: without amba it is a fried eggplant sandwich, not sabich.
8. Finish with the tahini sauce and chopped parsley and eat it straight away, before the bread softens.

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