Sabich

Ingredients

• Aubergines2
• Eggs4
• Pita bread4
• Amba4 tbsp
• Tahini150 g
• Tomatoes3
• Cucumbers2
• Parsley30 g
• Lemon2
• Zhug2 tbsp
• Oil for frying200 ml
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Cook the eggs at the barest simmer for an hour, then cool them in cold water and peel them.

   65 min

2. 2

   Slice the aubergines a centimetre thick, salt them and press them under a weight for half an hour.

   35 min

3. 3

   Pat the slices dry and fry them in oil to a deep gold on both sides.

   18 min

4. 4

   Whisk the tahini with lemon juice, water and salt to the thickness of pouring cream.

   6 min

5. 5

   Dice the tomatoes and cucumbers small and mix them with the parsley, lemon and salt.

   10 min

6. 6

   Warm the pitas, cut them into pockets and spread tahini inside.

   6 min

7. 7

   Layer in the aubergine, sliced egg and salad, and spoon over the amba, tahini and zhug.

   8 min

About the dish

The eggs are cooked long over the barest heat — an hour to overnight. The white turns creamy and faintly brown, and such an egg, hamin, is nothing like an ordinary boiled one.

Amba — a pickled mango paste with fenugreek — is obligatory. It is what separates sabich from any other aubergine sandwich, and nothing replaces it.

Sabich came to Israel with Iraqi Jews: for them it was Saturday morning food, everything cooked the day before because cooking is forbidden on the sabbath.

Worth knowing

• — Salt and press the aubergines without fail. Otherwise they absorb twice the oil and turn heavy.
• — Use little amba: it is intensely sour and sharp. A spoon per pita is enough, and overdoing it is easy.
• — Warm the pita without drying it. A dry one cracks as it is filled and the whole sandwich falls apart in the hand.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

620 kcal

Protein

20 g

Fat

36 g

Carbs

52 g

More from Israel

• Shakshuka — Eggs poached in a thick sauce of tomato and pepper with cumin and paprika.
• Hummus — Chickpeas whipped with tahini, lemon and iced water to a cream. The skins come off.
• Malabi — A milk pudding set with cornflour and rose water, under a sweet syrup and nuts.