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The Sandwich 100 · make it at home

Sabich (Tel Aviv eggplant and egg pita)

40 min · 4 pitas

Iraqi-Jewish Shabbat breakfast turned Tel Aviv street food: fried eggplant and hard-boiled egg in a pita with hummus, tahini, chopped salad, pickles and amba, a tangy mango pickle sauce.

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The real one

You need

• 2 medium eggplants, sliced into 1 cm (1/2 in) rounds
• Salt, olive or sunflower oil for frying
• 4 eggs
• 4 thick, fluffy pitas
• For tahini: 4 tbsp tahini, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 small clove garlic, grated, about 4 tbsp cold water, salt
• 4 tbsp hummus
• For the salad: 2 tomatoes and 1 cucumber, finely diced, 1/4 red onion, minced, 2 tbsp parsley, olive oil, lemon, salt
• Amba (mango pickle sauce), pickled cucumbers, zhug or hot sauce

How to make it

1. Salt the eggplant (15 min): Salt the slices on both sides and leave on a rack 15 minutes, then pat dry.
2. Fry (10 min): Heat 1 cm (1/2 in) oil in a skillet and fry the eggplant in batches until deep golden and creamy inside, 2 to 3 minutes a side. Drain on paper towels.
3. Eggs (12 min): Boil the eggs 10 minutes, cool in cold water, peel and slice.
4. Sauces and salad (5 min): Whisk the tahini with lemon, garlic and enough cold water for a pourable sauce; season. Toss the salad with oil, lemon and salt.
5. Build: Warm the pitas and open them. Spread hummus inside, then layer eggplant, egg slices, salad, pickles, tahini and amba (and zhug). Eat over a plate; it drips.

Tips

• Amba is the flavor that makes it sabich; find it in Middle Eastern shops.
• Roast the eggplant at 230 C (450 F), brushed with oil, if you'd rather not fry.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any shop's recipe.