Sabich
An Israeli Street Food, the Sabich is a sandwich that is layers upon layers of flavor. It is pita stuffed with pickled beets and onions, gently fried eggplant, hard boiled eggs, green peppers, Israeli salad, red cabbage, hummus and two amazing sauces: tahini and amba!
This Tel Aviv original is messy, saucy, drippy, with squishy bits, crunchy bits, tart bits, and so much flavor. This is street food. You are going to need a napkin (or several) when eating it!
I am obsessed with Israel: Israel Market Guide, Israeli Friday Night Dinner, What to Eat in Israel, Visitor Guide to Jerusalem! And the food is just so good. I can’t get enough Tabbouleh, Couscous Salad, and of course this Sabich.
This is a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern inspired dish, full of fresh flavors and crunch. Every bite is an adventure, and it is the kind of food where a symphony of ingredients come together in perfect harmony to create the ultimate bite. And trust me when I say, this will get your tastebuds singing. And while it is vegetarian, it is so filling and satisfying, everyone will love it. Vegetarian or not.
Last year I got to visit Israel on a food tour, and was introduced to the street food sabich. I was instantly hooked, and even though each day of my trip I was fed and fed until I was ready to burst, I made sure to head back to the streets for more sabich.
Why? Because it is flavorful, healthy, delicious, and different. And I fell in love.
I loved the combination of crunchy fresh vegetables, creamy hummus, tender fried eggplant, hearty eggs, delicious pickled beets and onions, all topped with sauces that enhance the flavors! The sabich is layering genius at its finest. It is amazing how combining common ingredients in this way can make something so good.
And there are tons of ways to customize it too. You can add boiled potato slices, chicken, Israeli pickles, and more.
I love any excuse to add eggplant to my diet, when it seems like the only way we eat it is Eggplant Parmesan.
What You Need to Make Sabich
Think of sabich like the Israeli version of a burrito, only instead of rice and beans and cheese, you are layering Mediterranean inspired fresh vegetables, pickled vegetables, and sauces. While there are several components to the sabich, it is actually fairly quick and easy to put together, especially since you only cook two things: Eggs and Eggplant! The rest is chopping and assembling.
Individually, the components are simple, but together, sabich is a taste sensation.
Ingredients
- Eggplant- The egg plant is sliced, salted, and lightly fried to act as the base of this sandwich.
- Hard Boiled Eggs, seasoned with sumac and Za’atar (optional).- Slices of hard boiled eggs add creaminess and protein to this sandwich.
- Aunt Nellie’s Pickled Beets & Onions– sweet and vinegary brined pickled beets add a lovely depth of flavor, as well as sweetness to this dish. They taste like homemade, but without the work.
- Israeli Salad– A combination of cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, fresh lemon juice, and spices make this crunchy, fresh salad a great filler in sabich.
- Green Peppers– The slight bitterness of the green peppers adds a nice balance of flavor.
- Red Cabbage– More crunch, a little bit of a peppery taste, and some earthiness of red cabbage are a nice addition.
- Hummus- Smashed chickpeas with a garlicky, tangy flavor, hummus is the perfect spread for the sabich. Usually found in the deli section of the grocery store, or in the refrigerator section.
Sauces:
- Tahini- Creamy, ground sesame seeds, add an earthy, nutty flavor, and great creaminess to the dish. This is found in almost every grocery store, and is often near the peanut butter, but if you can’t find it, just ask!
- Amba – Amba is a pickled or curried mango sauce. It can be found at Trader Joe’s in the deli refrigerator section, as well as online, and in many grocery stores. Or you can make your own. If you can’t find Amba a little mustard or vinegar can be used instead to add flavor. Or skip it! This is an optional ingredient.
How to Make Sabich
To make Sabich you need to cook your eggs and eggplant, and assemble. It is that simple. Here’s how:
Fry Your Eggplant:
- Wash and slice your eggplant into pieces a centimeter thick.
- Salt the pieces to draw out the extra moisture. Let sit for 10 minutes.
- Pat extra moisture off.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet.
- Once hot, place eggplant into the oil, and fry until browned. Flip, and fry other side. About 3 minutes per side.
Hard Boil Your Eggs:
Use your favorite method for hard boiling eggs. I personally love to use my air fryer or instant pot.
Instant pot hard boiled eggs instructions can be found here.
Air fryer hard boiled eggs:
- Put eggs in air fryer basket
- Set temperature to 250 degree
- Air fry for 15-17 minutes
- Remove from basket to an ice bath for 5 minutes.
- Peel and then season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, as well as zaatar and sumac!
Gather and Prepare Your Vegetables:
I love being able to use up odds and ends vegetables in this recipe. Just chop them up and get them ready to be used:
Make an Israeli salad:
This is basically a salad of fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and parsley.
- 1 cucumber
- 3 roma tomatoes
- ⅓ cup chopped parsley
- ½ a lemon juiced
- 1 tsp zaatar
Open your Aunt Nellie’s Pickled Beets and Onions
These make such a huge difference in the flavor of the sabich. While I was in Israel the sabich had Israeli pickles, and pickled cabbage, it also had sliced potatoes. I opted to get the same flavor and texture of the pickled items and potatoes, but replace them with the beets and onions. This makes it easier, and you get a little added sweetness. It was the perfect substitution, and ended up being incredibly delicious.
Plus, Aunt Nellie’s saves time because all the peeling, cooking, pickling is done for you, without sacrificing flavor. And they are good for you. Ruby-red beets are antioxidant-rich! And loaded with vitamins, including Vitamin A, C and Folate. Not to mention all the minerals: Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, and Potassium.
Aunt Nellie’s offers six varieties of jarred beets, for this recipe you want the Pickled Beets and Onions. These are sliced pickled beets that are paired with sweet onions to make this ready-to-serve, and absolutely delicious.
The Aunt Nellie’s beet products are delicious, and ready to serve straight from the jar, complement the other flavors in the sabich, and are amazing quality.
Aunt Nellie’s Farm Kitchen began in Clyman, Wisconsin in 1929. And they have successfully been producing jarred vegetables for 80 years. They can be found in stores nationwide as well as online with vendors such as Amazon and Walmart.
I keep several jars on hand to add them to salads or eat out of the jar as a snack.
Thinly Slice Cabbage and Green Bell Peppers.
Assemble and Sauce:
Now it is time to assemble, and you can do this however you would like. Open your pita and start filling it with all the goodness.
I personally like to start with the eggplant, and a generous smear of hummus, then layer in the beets and onions, eggs, israeli salad, cabbage, and green peppers, then drizzle with tahini and amba!
It makes every bite crunchy, creamy, tangy, flavorful, and delicious. These layers are all you could want in any sandwich, and more.
I’m convinced it is the world’s greatest sandwich.
And of course it starts with the world’s greatest ingredients. Including Aunt Nellie’s Pickled Beets and Onions.
Right now, you have the chance to win some cool prizes with Aunt Nellie’s during #ANBeetWeek ! For Aunt Nellie’s third annual Beet Week, we are celebrating the versatility of beets in creative and innovative recipes. And each day you can find a new way to use beets with exciting new recipe that fit many different healthy eating plans such as gluten-free, low -carb, vegan/vegetarian, and of course, Mediterranean!
Aunt Nellie’s will award seven (7) prizes consisting of a free case of your favorite beets and a $50 digital gift card to your favorite store. Just follow Aunt Nellie’s on Facebook and Instagram and click here (link TBD) to enter! Good luck!
And visit www.Auntnellies.com for exciting recipes and more varieties of beet products.
Sabich
Ingredients
- 1 jar Aunt Nellie's Pickled Beets and Onions 16 ounces
- 4 whole grain pita breads
Fried Eggplant
- 1 egg plant
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 cup vegetable oil for frying
Hard Boiled Eggs
- 4 eggs hard boiled
- Salt and Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Zaatar optional
- 1/2 teaspoon Sumac optional
Israeli Salad
- 1 cucumber diced
- 3 roma tomatoes diced
- ⅓ cup fresh parsley chopped fine
- ½ lemon juiced,
- 1 teaspoon zaatar
Remaining Vegetables
- 2 cups red cabbage shredded
- 1 green bell pepper sliced thin
Sauces
- 1/2 cup Hummus
- 1/4 cup Amba pickled mango sauce
- 1/4 cup Tahini
Instructions
- Drain beets and onions; set aside.
Eggplant
- Wash eggplant. Slice into pieces about 3/8-inch thick. Place slices on cooling rack. Salt slices to draw out the extra moisture. Let set for 10 minutes. Pat extra moisture off.
- Meanwhile, heat vegetable oil in large skillet (14 inches or larger), over medium heat. Once oil is hot, place eggplant slices into oil; fry until browned. Turn and fry other side, about 3 minutes per side. Do this in batches of 4 pieces until all are fried. Place on paper towel-lined plate when finished frying to help absorb any additional oil.
Hard Boiled Eggs
- Season hard-boiled egg slices with salt and pepper, as desired. Season with 1/2 teaspoon Za’atar and sumac, if desired. Set aside. For Israeli salad, in medium bowl, combine cucumber, tomatoes, parsley, lemon juice and 1 teaspoon Za’atar. Set aside.
Assemble:
- Gently slice one end off each pita and open the pocket. Heat pitas in the microwave for 10 seconds on HIGH to make them softer, if desired, before filling. Place equal amounts fried eggplant into each pita. Spread 2 tablespoons hummus inside each pita. Gently layer 1/4 of the egg slices, beets and onions, cabbage, Israeli salad, and green peppers into each of the pitas. You will be dividing all of the ingredients equally between the 4 pitas. Drizzle each sabich with about 1 tablespoon each of amba sauce, if desired and tahini. Season with additional salt and pepper or sumac and Za’atar, if desired.
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
Want to use this recipe in a meal plan?Try PrePear, my FREE Meal Planning App that allows you to save your recipes, plan meals, shop for groceries, and cook simply in one place. Join Here!Nutrition information per serving (1/4 of recipe): 680 calories; 21g protein; 72g carbohydrate; 37g fat; 1270mg sodium; 185mg cholesterol; 14g dietary fiber; 6.01mg iron; 0.62mg thiamin; 146.03mcg vitamin A; 62.72mg vitamin C.
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