Vered's Israeli Cooking

Iraqi style eggplant, egg and mango chutney sandwich (sabich)

Vered Guttman

Sabich: eggplant, egg, tahini and pickled mango sandwich

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Sabich is a highly popular street food in Israel. It is basically an Iraqi style Shabbat breakfast in pita, meaning fried eggplant, hard boiled egg, tahini sauce and mango chutney (amba) all in one fluffy pita bread.

I grew up having simple fried eggplant on a thick slice of rye bread or challah at my Iraqi grandmother’s house in Tel Aviv. There aren’t many things that are better than that.

You can serve the sabich in pita, as done on the streets of Israel, or over a good slice of bread, as in the photo here. It’s delicious either way.

Iraqi style eggplant, egg and mango chutney sandwich
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Iraqi style eggplant, egg and mango chutney sandwich

Recipe by Vered GuttmanCourse: Breakfast, Main course, Sandwich, SnackCuisine: Iraqi, Jewish, IseraeliDifficulty: Medium
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

45

minutes
Resting time

30

minutes
Total time

1

hour 

15

minutes

Sabich (morning in Arabic) is a highly popular street food in Israel. It is basically an Iraqi style Shabbat breakfast in pita, meaning fried eggplant, hard boiled egg, tahini sauce and mango chutney (amba) all in one fluffy pita bread.

In the U.S., the common American eggplant is the best choice when it comes to frying (Italian eggplant is preferable for roasting and grilling). If you can get a Sicilian eggplant, you’re very lucky, as those are the best for anything. A good eggplant is light as a feather and dark as night.

Pickled mango sauce (amba) is available at many kosher markets, or you can use pickled Indian mango chutney instead, as the origin of the Iraqi amba is Indian.

Israeli style pita bread are thicker than most. They’re available at some Israeli or Kosher supermarkets.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 eggplant (see note above)

  • Kosher salt for sprinkling

  • 4 eggs

  • Corn oil for frying

  • 4 slices of a good bread, or 4 pita breads (see note above, or make them yourself)

  • 2 Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, boiled and sliced to ¼ inch

  • Israeli salad (recipe here)

  • Pickled mango sauce to your liking (see note above)

  • For the tahini sauce

  • 1/2 cup cold water

  • 1/3 cup lemon juice

  • 1/2 cup tahini

  • Pinch kosher salt

DIRECTIONS

  • Peel the eggplant, cut in half widthwise, then slice each half to 1/2” thick slices lengthwise. Arrange in a colander and sprinkle each layer with kosher salt. Let the eggplant stand in the colander over a large bowl for 30 minutes and up to 2 hours, while the salt helps to get rid of its bitterness. Wash under running water and dry with paper towels.
  • Bring salted water to boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Use a spoon to put the eggs in the water, bring back to boil, cook for 7 minutes and transfer to ice water to stop the cooking process.
  • In the meantime, prepare the tahini sauce. Use a fork or a hand whisk to mix all the ingredients in a small bowl until tahini changes it’s consistency and becomes creamy, about 1 minute. Adjust salt to taste.
  • In a large drying pan over medium-high heat pour about 1/8” oil. When the oil is hot arrange half the eggplant slices in it and fry slowly until both sides get golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel lined cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the eggplant slices.
  • To make the sandwich: Slit open the top of each pita bread. Insert one or two slices of eggplant, add sliced egg, boiled potato slices, a generous tablespoon of Israeli salad, then drizzle tahini sauce and pickled mango sauce. Serve immediately.
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