This Easy Sabich Sandwich is a popular Israeli street food that is bursting with flavor!
Simple, vegetarian, and dairy free all in a pita!
This amazingly flavorful Easy Sabich Sandwich is a delicious sandwich; fried eggplant, egg, Israeli salad, and tehini all come together for a delicious meal. Eat at home, at work, or on the go!
Love Israeli street food? Try: Easy Homemade Chicken Shawarma and Easy Homemade Turkey Shawarma.
And what about Hummus? Easy Homemade Hummus and Really Easy Homemade Hummus
A little of my cooking background
I really wanted to title this blog “If I can make it, anyone can”, because – honestly – if I can make it, anyone can.
I never really liked cooking and when I was single, a meal for me meant grilled cheese, eggs, tuna, or something else that didn’t require effort or time.
When my kids were young, I was still able to get away with preparing only a small variety of easy meals, but the older they got, the more dishes I learned to make at their request.
Still, I insisted on keeping it simple.
Honestly, I never understood why some cooks unnecessarily complicate meals. I have seen recipes that have several ingredients that don’t really seem to add much, if anything, to the dish. So, why bother?
It has always been important to me that whoever eats at my table will have plenty to enjoy and that includes my kids (I never agreed with the “You will eat what is served or you won’t eat” ideology) and, because I keep it simple, I can prepare a variety of dishes in a relatively short period of time.
I have a philosophy regarding being a great cook: Prepare food according to the tastes of those who will be eating it and they will love your cooking!
As far as I am concerned, start with the basic ingredients that make the dish what it is, adapt according to taste, and voila! you are an amazing cook!
The bottom line is that while there are certainly delicate recipes out there for specialty dishes, making delicious meals doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming. It’s not difficult to impress – just make sure it tastes good.
While some of the recipes on my blog are more time-consuming than others, they are all tried and true easy-shmeezy!
Of course, one always has to consider the conditions under which they cook. Weather (humidity, heat, cold), different types of ovens, different quality of pots, etc. – all of which can affect your cooking and baking.
Nevertheless, as I said, if I can do it, anyone can!
A little about Israeli cuisine
Some people complain about cultural appropriation in cuisine when food from one country is attributed to another country.
However, national cuisine in itself is often a mingling of food from of a variety of cultures, often due to a change of ruling countries and a shifting of borders.
Turkish cuisine, for example, goes back to the Ottoman Empire and was a combination of several cultures under Ottoman rule.
When people move from country to country, they will take their cultures with them and their decendents may adapt their traditional cuisine with that of their new home and, if they don’t, others might.
Chinese food in US restaurants is quite often not really authentic Chinese, but American Chinese.
Americans have created a whole variety of types and styles of pizza and pineapple pizza was apparently created in Canada by a Greek immigrant. Yet, everyone still calls them all “pizza”, which originated in Italy.
Spaghetti is thought to be an Italian food, but many historians believe that it was brought back to Italy from China by Marco Polo.
Apparently, battered fried fish was from the Portuguese Jewish community as a sabbath food and ended up in England via Holland during the Spanish Inquisition, yet everyone attributes the food to the British.
…and don’t get me started on Hummus.
When one lives in a melting pot, such as the US or Israel, it is just unrealistic to expect that food from a particular culture won’t mingle with that of other cultures.
That being said, “Israeli cuisine” is basically Middle Eastern (as opposed to Eastern European food) that was brought to Israel by Jews when they fled or were expelled from Muslim countries and moved to Israel mostly after the declaration of the State of Israel (collectively known as Mizrahi Jews).
Recipes were passed from generation to generation and, although decades have passed, the foods are still known by the culture they came from and everyone seems to have their own way of making them.
That said, there are many variations of pretty much any “Israeli” recipe, because of background, custom, or even just taste. When choosing a recipe, one has to know what actually constitutes a main ingredient – what makes the dish what it is – and what is left up to individual taste.
I personally find it very arrogant and quite irritating when a blogger(not naming names) will put “authentic” in the title of an “Israeli” recipe, as if all the rest are mere imitations. What’s worse, is when that blogger makes the recipe with her own twist and then calls it authentic!
Adding more or less of a spice or adding a spice that is not in the recipe, does not make it less authentic, but calling it “authentic” and then adding unnecessary extra ingredients above and beyond what needs to be there, is misleading.
For example, “authentic” Israeli salad (what Israelis call Israeli salad) is diced tomatoes and cucumbers. Sometimes, they will add some oil salt and pepper, but THAT’S IT. Anything else does not have to be there, but if you leave out the cucumbers or the tomatoes, you no longer have an “Israeli salad”.
So, find the recipes you like with the ingredients you prefer, add your own twists, and בתאבון (literally translated, “with appetite”) !
What is a Sabich?
First of all, the way to pronouce the word is sahbeekh – with the ch or kh sounding like you are trying to get phlem out of the back of your throat.
“Sabich” in itself doesn’t really mean anything. While some like to think it is an acronym from the names of some ofthe contents in Hebrew, the truth of the matter is that it was named was named for one of the partners that created it.
The story told in Israel is that Sabich Tzvi Chalbi, and his partner, Ya’akov Sasson, had a small stand in Ramat Gan, that was by the first/last stop of bus number 63 of the Dan bus company, which traveled between Ramat Gan and Tel Aviv. In 1961, the partners created a sandwich for the drivers.
They used foods that that Iraqis would traditionally eat for their breakfast platter: pita, fried eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, hard boiled eggs, etc. with tahini (in Hebrew, pronounced tchina – again with the phlegm) and amba (a tangy mango-pickle condiment of Jewish-Iraqi and Jewish-Kurdish origin).
The drivers would drive by the stand and call out “Sabich, make me a sandwich” and that is how the sandwich became known as the Sabich.
While the sabich became a very popular Israeli dish and is sold around the country, the original shop is still in the same place and in the summer of 2020, the mayor of Ramat Gan named the area Sabich Square to memorialize the contribution to Israeli cuisine.
Why are there so many Sabich sandwich recipes?
Like pretty much every other recipe out there, everyone makes dishes according to their own tradition and taste and the sabich is no different. I like to keep my recipes as simple to allow anyone who wants to make a quick dish without straying from the basics to do just that.
The original ingredients that were made part of the sabich are remembered to be:
- Pita
- Fried Eggplant
- Humus (pronounced khoomoos – the kh making the phlegm sound)
- Aruk (an Iraqi herb)
- Tahini (tchina – pronounced tkheena)
- Israeli vegetable salad (made only of cubed tomatoes and cucumbers)
- Amba
- Schug (a hot middle eastern condiment made with hot peppers – prounounced skhoog)
- Pickles
- Parsley
- Chopped red onions with sumac and lemon juice
- Potatoes
- Hard boiled egg
and you can feel free to put in as much or as little as you want of any of them (of course, if you leave out the pita or eggplant, you can pretty much assume it is no longer a sabich).
Tips for making a sabich
- Make sure to use fresh pita. Dried pita will crack and the contents of your sandwich will fall out.
- When choosing an eggplant, it should be the darkest kind you can find to make sure it is ripe.
- The fresher your ingredients, the better tasting the sabich.
And tomatoes and cucumbers have health benefits, as do the eggplant and egg (below).
A little about eggplants
The eggplant is native to India and Asia, where it can be found growing wild and it is believed that eggplants were brought to Europe sometime during the 7th or 8th century.
Australians and Americans call the vegetable eggplant, while in England it is called a aubergine from the French word for this vegetable.
Because of it’s meaty texture, eggplant is used instead of meat in some vegetarian versions of meat recipes.
While there are a variety of types of eggplants, the one for this recipe is the large egg-shaped (or teardrop-shaped) blackish purple one with the meaty inside.
Eggplants have health benefits as they contain antioxidants like vitamins A and C, which help protect your cells against damage and are low in calories.
About cooking eggplant
Eggplants can be roasted, baked, steamed, deep fried, or sautéd.
Before cooking an eggplant, cut off the top part where the green is (called a calyx). The bottom tip should also be removed, but this is not imperative. The skin is perfectly fine to eat, but it must be cooked well, otherwise it may come out chewy.
This recipe can use either peeled eggplants or with the skin (having the skin on will not ruin the recipe).
Eggplant is naturally a little bitter. If you find that to be the case, you can draw out the bitterness by sprinkling it with salt and let it sit a while. If you are using slices or pieces, slightly salt after cutting. I have personally never found this to be a problem when cooking with eggplants
Using salt before cooking can help prevent the eggplant from absorbing too much oil and becoming greasy if using oil with the eggplant recipe (I normally just pat the pieces with a paper towel if need be).
If you do use salt, MAKE SURE to rinse it off before cooking the eggplant or the salt will become a part of your dish!
Personally, I have never salted my eggplants before using them (and I have used eggplants in two countries) and have never had any problem with bitterness, but if you have any concern, please do.
If a recipe calls for frying, but you prefer not to do so because of the calories the oil will add to the recipe, you can spray with cooking oil and bake instead.
A little about eggs
For many years eggs were considered a source of high cholesterol and a possible cause of heart disease and people were warned against them and recommended to have only a few per week in their diets.
It is true that one large egg yolk has 200 mg of cholesterol, however the additional nutrients that eggs contain may actually help LOWER the risk of heart disease by raising the “good” cholesterol in one’s body.
In addition, eggs are packed with nutrients and health benefits.
Eggs are high in protein and filling, but low in calories. They are nutritious and contain a large variety of vitamins as well as some anti-oxidants.
The color of the yolk depends on the diet of the hen and different types of chickens may lay different colored eggs; white or brownish.
Egg white consists primarily of approximately 90 percent water and contains almost no fat or carbohydrates.
The yolk of a new egg is firm, but then it absorbs water from the egg white, which causes it to increase in size and become loose.
You may be suprised to know that raw egg white is sometimes used in the preparation of vaccines.
Many people believe that since eggs are found in the refrigerated section of the supermarket, and very frequently near the dairy section, that they are also dairy.
Nonetheless, eggs are NOT DAIRY. You CANNOT milk a chicken!
Sabich
Israeli fried eggplant, egg, and vegetables sandwich in pita.
Ingredients
- 2 pitas
- 1 medium eggplant, sliced thin (1/4 - 1/3 inches wide)
- 2 hard boiled eggs,
Optional
- cucumber
- tomato
- copped fresh parsley
- boiled sliced potatoes
- hot sauce
- tahini
- humus
- amba
Instructions
- Slice eggplant into slices (1/4 - 1/3 inch - best to err on the side of thinner)*
- Using a paper towel or napkin (dab off moisture.
- Fry until both sides are a deep golden brown and place on paper towel or napkin to drain.**
- Slice tomatoes and cucumbers thin or dice
- Slice eggs (doesn't matter how thick
- Place everything inside the pitas in whichever order desired.
Notes
* the shape doesn't matter, but should fit inside a pita
** or bake on baking paper at 350°F until deep golden brown
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 551Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 187mgSodium: 603mgCarbohydrates: 90gFiber: 14gSugar: 16gProtein: 21g