Sabich -- Pronounced Sabeek -- YUMMY Sandwich

Jeffrey strikes again with another great posting...

Michael wrote earlier this summer about my bringing food ideas back with me from a recent trip to the middle east.  Here's another dish, which I made yesterday when Michael and our friend Erika came over for lunch.  It's a sandwich called Sabich  (the 'ch' is more of a slightly aspirated 'k' sound), and is a popular fast food staple among Arab Israelis living around Tel-Aviv, Israel.  From what I'm told, the best and arguably the original Sabich is prepared at Miznon Sabich, located in Tel-Aviv at 129 Ha'Roeh Street, Ramat Gan.  My friend Anat took me there in while I was visiting in June and holy cow I wanted to go back every day!

For Sabich, you'll need:

Pita

Hummus – I make my own using 2 cans of chick peas, the juice of 2 lemons, 4 cloves of coarsely chopped garlic, 3 tbsp. tahini paste, 1 rounded tsp. Kosher salt, and about 2/3 cup of the liquid from the cans of chick peas; blend all of this in your food processor for about 3 minutes

Eggs – hard boiled

Red potatoes – diced into 3/4" cubes, lightly salted, and steamed

Eggplant – skinned, diced into 3/4" cubes, lightly salted and then either roasted (400 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes), or fried in 3 tbsp. cooking oil until it's starting to fall apart

Chopped salad – consisting of scallions, radishes, red onion, diced tomato, diced cucumber, watercress, parsley, basil and a light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and white balsamic vinegar

Tahini sauce – tahini paste, water to thin, finely minced garlic

Cut an opening in each pita pocket, but do your best to maintain the integrity of the rest of it - - you're really going to tax the holding power of these guys, and what we get in the US isn't nearly as sturdy (nor, lamentably, is it as tasty) as what's available in Tel-Aviv.  Spread one side with hummus and fill up with a mashed up egg, heaping tablespoons each of the potatoes, eggplant and chopped salad. Finish with a drizzle of tahini sauce and serve immediately.

Each bite will have a somewhat different combination or proportion of flavors, but each bite will be so so yummy!

We ate this yesterday with an heirloom tomato salad and a lentil soup. More on the soup later.

Comments

[Adi]

I love Sabiach. I look forward to michael making me one!

[michaels mom]

Well...yummo, as Rachael would say!!
I am not much for eggplant, but this "sabiach" sandwich, with the hummus on the eggplant sounds wonderful. Am I your biggest fan??? No I don't mean SIZE!!!