Sabich
A sandwich born in Israel from the Saturday breakfast of Iraqi Jews: fried aubergine and eggs cooked since Friday. Its most distinctive element is eggs simmered long over the lowest heat — traditionally for hours, here an hour is enough — the white turns creamy and faintly beige, the yolk dense. The second is amba, a spicy pickled mango sauce with fenugreek, whose sour, aromatic flavour is hard to replace.
Your own work in that: 15 min.
- Eggs 60 min
- Aubergine 30 min
- Salad 15 min
- Assembly 15 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneSimmer the eggs long and slow
Cover the eggs with water, onion skins and tea, bring to a boil and cook an hour on the lowest heat, topping up with boiling water as it evaporates. The white turns creamy and beige and the flavour deepens. Classic haminados simmer overnight.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs · 1 pcs onion skins · 1 tbsp black tea
An hour on the lowest heat — the white turns beige.Salt the aubergine and wait
Cut the aubergines into 1 cm slices, salt them and leave in a colander for 20 minutes. The salt draws out water so the aubergine absorbs less oil — without this step it drinks far more.
Ingredients: 2 pcs aubergines · 2 tsp salt · 250 ml oil
Dry the slices and fry them golden
Pat the slices dry and fry in batches in hot oil (about 1 cm deep) 3 minutes a side, about 30 minutes in all, until deep golden and completely soft. Underfried aubergine is rubbery and tastes raw — it must collapse under a fork.
Ingredients: 2 pcs aubergines · 2 tsp salt · 250 ml oil
Deep golden and fully soft — firm slices are rubbery.Make the Israeli salad
Cut the tomatoes, cucumbers and onion into a very fine dice, mix with parsley, lemon juice and salt. The dice must be fine: the salad should fill the gaps in the pita rather than fall out at the first bite.
Ingredients: 3 pcs tomatoes · 2 pcs cucumbers · ½ pcs onion · ½ bunch parsley · 1 pcs lemon · 6 tbsp tahini · 1 clove garlic · 3 tbsp amba
Loosen the tahini with lemon
Whisk the tahini with lemon juice, crushed garlic and cold water a spoonful at a time, until smooth and pourable. Tahini first thickens and looks broken — that is normal, keep whisking and adding water.
Ingredients: 3 pcs tomatoes · 2 pcs cucumbers · ½ pcs onion · ½ bunch parsley · 1 pcs lemon · 6 tbsp tahini · 1 clove garlic · 3 tbsp amba
Warm the pitas and open the pocket
Warm the pitas on a dry pan, a minute a side, and carefully open the pocket with a knife. A warm pita is elastic; a cold one splits as it stretches and the whole filling escapes sideways.
Ingredients: 4 pcs pitas
Fill in layers, in order
Put in the salad first, then the aubergine, then the peeled, sliced egg on top. Pour over tahini and amba. The order is practical: salad at the bottom soaks up the sauces, and the egg on top does not collapse under everything else.
Ingredients: 3 pcs tomatoes · 2 pcs cucumbers · ½ pcs onion · ½ bunch parsley · 1 pcs lemon · 6 tbsp tahini · 1 clove garlic · 3 tbsp amba
Salad at the bottom, egg on top — sauces last.
Before you start
Amba has no substitute
It is an Iraqi sauce of pickled green mango with turmeric and fenugreek, sour, hot and distinctly spiced. Middle Eastern grocers stock it. Without amba sabich is still good, but it is a different sandwich — mango chutney will not stand in.
Oven-roasted aubergine
Instead of frying, brush the slices with oil and roast 25 minutes at 220°C, turning once. Far less greasy, though without the silky texture frying gives. A reasonable everyday compromise.
Everything a day ahead
The eggs, aubergine and tahini sauce keep up to three days in the fridge, and jarred amba far longer. Sabich takes well to advance preparation — Iraqi families made these components on Friday, before the Sabbath. Cut the salad fresh.
