Sabich Pita (Israeli Iraqi-Jewish Eggplant Sandwich)

About This Recipe

Sabich is the breakfast — and now lunch, and now late-night — sandwich invented by Iraqi Jews who emigrated to Israel in the 1950s, traditionally eaten on Shabbat morning because all its components can be cooked the night before. A fresh pita is stuffed with thick slices of golden-fried eggplant, hard- or soft-boiled eggs that have been slow-baked overnight (huevos haminados, in their original form), a smear of hummus, a fresh Israeli salad of finely chopped tomato and cucumber, a drizzle of tahini, a tangy mango pickle called amba, and a handful of bright-pink pickled turnips. The first sabich stand opened in Ramat Gan in 1961 by Sabich Halabi, a Baghdadi Jew, and today sabich is sold from kiosks across Israel and exported via Israeli chefs to New York, London, and Berlin. It's vegetarian, fast, and one of the most satisfying sandwiches on earth.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 2 largeglobe eggplants, sliced into 1 cm rounds
• 2 tspfine salt, for the eggplant
• 180 mlvegetable oil, for frying
• 4 largeeggs
• 4fresh pita breads with pockets, warmed
• 250 gsmooth hummus (homemade or quality store-bought)
• 120 mltahini sauce (raw tahini whisked with lemon juice and ice water to a pourable cream)
• 4 tbspamba (Iraqi-Jewish mango pickle, e.g. Galil brand)
• 100 gpickled pink turnips (kabis lift), drained, sliced
• 2 tbspIsraeli salat (zhug or schug) hot sauce, optional
• 3 mediumripe tomatoes, finely diced
• 1 largecucumber, finely diced
• 2 tbspfresh parsley, chopped
• 2 tbspfresh lemon juice
• 1 tbspolive oil
• 0.5 tspfine salt, for the salad

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the eggplant

   Lay eggplant slices on a wire rack, salt both sides, and let drain 30 minutes. Press gently with paper towels to remove moisture — this is what gives a creamy, non-greasy interior.

2. 2

   Boil the eggs

   Lower the eggs into boiling water and cook 7 minutes for jammy yolks, 9 for fully set. Drop into ice water immediately. Peel and halve. For traditional huevos haminados: bake whole shell-on overnight at 80°C with onion skins — the whites turn beige and the flavor goes deeply caramelized.

3. 3

   Make the Israeli salad

   Combine the finely diced tomato, cucumber, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt. The dice should be tiny — 5 mm — so each forkful is uniform.

4. 4

   Fry the eggplant

   Heat oil in a wide skillet to 175°C. Fry eggplant slices in a single layer 3 minutes per side until deeply golden and creamy in the center. Drain on a wire rack, not paper towels — wire keeps them crisp.

   Test one slice first: if it absorbs oil and stays pale, the oil isn't hot enough. The eggplant should sizzle aggressively.

5. 5

   Warm the pitas

   Briefly heat pitas on a dry skillet 20 seconds per side, then slit the top to open the pocket fully. Keep wrapped in a clean towel while you build.

6. 6

   Build the sabich

   Smear 2 tablespoons of hummus inside each pita, covering the back wall. Slide in 4–5 slices of warm fried eggplant. Add a halved egg, leaning against the eggplant. Top with a generous spoon of Israeli salad and a few slices of pickled turnip.

7. 7

   Sauce and serve

   Drizzle tahini sauce generously over the top so it pools at the bottom of the pocket. Add a teaspoon of amba — it's strong, use sparingly — and a dot of zhug if using. Eat immediately while the eggplant is hot.

Variations

• •

  Sabich laffa: replace pita with a large laffa flatbread and roll wrap-style instead of stuffing.

• •

  Add 2 tablespoons of cooked potato cubes per pita for a heartier Tel Aviv café-style version.

• •

  Replace eggs with a drained labneh smear for a dairy-style sabich (Mizrahi homes only — traditional sabich is dairy-free).

Storage

Sabich must be assembled fresh. Prep all components separately and refrigerate up to 3 days; assemble each pita to order. The eggplant can be re-fried briefly to revive crispness.

Frequently Asked Questions