On the stall counter, bowls of fillings stand in a row. Golden roasted eggplant, sliced boiled egg, finely chopped cucumber and tomato. The vendor opens a pita pocket, quickly stuffs in the fillings, and pours on plenty of white tahini sauce and yellow mango sauce. Bite into the heavy pita and the creamy eggplant, the richness of the tahini, and the sourness of the mango spread all at once. Sabich is the eggplant-and-egg pita sandwich loved at Israel's street stalls.
A Sabbath breakfast, tucked into a pita
The origin of sabich is the Sabbath (Shabbat) morning breakfast in Iraqi Jewish homes. Because cooking over fire is avoided on the Jewish Sabbath, the table was set with dishes that could be eaten at room temperature. In The Nosher, the food column of the Jewish-culture site My Jewish Learning, Joel Haber writes that Iraqi Jews laid out these dishes buffet-style on Saturday morning.
When many Iraqi Jews moved to Israel, mostly in the 1950s, the breakfast dishes that had been laid out on separate plates were packed together inside a pita. This is how a sandwich easy to eat on the go was born. Haber presents sabich as one of the most popular street foods in Israel.
There are several theories about the origin of the name sabich. The best known is that in Ramat Gan, a town near Tel Aviv, a man nicknamed Sabich started selling it at a stall. Haber, on the other hand, writes that the theory that it comes from an Arabic word meaning "morning" seems more plausible, given that Iraqi Jews ate it in the morning.
From the bus stop in Ramat Gan
The American organization Jewish Food Society, which documents Jewish food culture, carries the story of Tami Shemtov, whose own father's name was Sabich. Her father had moved from Iraq, and the name Sabich, in the language of Iraqi Jews, is said to mean "dawn" or "first light."
The same article relates that the dish became one of Israel's signature foods when Sabich Tzvi Halabi, who had moved from Iraq, sold it to bus drivers from a kiosk at the end of a bus line in Ramat Gan. The article gives the 1980s as the year the stall started, but some sources suggest an earlier date, and it isn't clear. What is certain is that the flavor of an Iraqi home breakfast changed into a street food held in the hand on Israeli street corners.
Ingredients (serves 4)
The ingredients adjust Tami Shemtov's sabich recipe (serving 6 to 8), published by the Jewish Food Society, to four servings, keeping the basic combination of eggplant, egg, tahini sauce, and chopped salad. The original recipe is written in American measuring cups (240 ml).
Tahini is a paste of ground white sesame seeds and an essential seasoning in Middle Eastern cooking. It is roasted more lightly than Japanese neri-goma and has a lighter aroma. Amba is a sauce made from pickled mango, with a curry-like spice aroma and sourness. The sourness of the amba tightens the richness of the eggplant and tahini. You can make it without if you can't find it, but with it the dish is much more sabich-like.
When making it with slender Asian eggplants, cutting them lengthwise 1 cm thick makes them easier to stuff into the pita. With either cut, the step of salting to draw out moisture keeps the eggplant from soaking up too much oil as it roasts and gives it a creamy texture.
How to make sabich
The eggplant is roasted in a 220°C oven. If you start preheating while the salted eggplant is drawing out moisture, you can roast it without waiting.
Tahini is made from sesame, so people with a sesame allergy should not eat it. Also, use oven mitts when handling the hot baking sheet and eggplant. For people who are unwell, pregnant, or small children, it is safer to use hard-boiled eggs rather than soft-boiled.
Tahini sauce tends to split if the ice water goes in all at once. Adding it a little at a time and mixing well each time is the surest route to smoothness. If it is too stiff, thin it with 1 tsp ice water at a time.
For the chopped salad, dress with the lemon juice and oil just before eating. Dressing early draws water out of the tomatoes and cucumbers and makes the pita soggy.
Set out the fillings and stuff your own
In Shemtov's recipe, each filling is put in its own dish, the eggplant and pita go on a large platter, and the tahini sauce, amba, and parsley are set out in dishes too. Then each person assembles their own sandwich. For a table with family and friends, this way of serving is the most fun. The same recipe also includes sliced boiled potatoes and turnip pickle colored with beets.
If you want to compare Middle Eastern pita sandwiches, Falafel, with chickpea fritters stuffed in a pita, is recommended. If you like egg dishes, try Shakshuka as well, with eggs simmered in a tomato and pepper sauce.
FAQ
Don't you fry the eggplant?
Fried eggplant is often used at stalls, but the Jewish Food Society recipe this one is based on brushes the eggplant with olive oil and roasts it in the oven. It uses less oil than frying and lets you make a lot at once at home.
What if I don't have amba?
You can make it without. In that case, using a little more lemon juice in the tahini sauce or making the chopped salad more tart keeps the flavor from turning flat.
Can I make it ahead?
Keep the roasted eggplant and tahini sauce refrigerated in separate containers and use them up quickly. Sabich is originally eaten at room temperature, so taking it out of the refrigerator a little before eating brings back the aroma of the eggplant. Make the chopped salad just before eating.
Soft-boiled or hard-boiled eggs: which is better?
Either is fine. In the Jewish Food Society recipe, 7 minutes is given for a runny soft-boiled egg and 12 minutes for hard-boiled. Soft-boiled blends with the tahini sauce and adds richness; hard-boiled is easier to slice into rounds and stuff in the pita.
Sources
- Jewish Food Society, Tami Shemtov, "Sabich." (accessed and checked 22 October 2026). https://www.jewishfoodsociety.org/recipes/sabich
- Jewish Food Society, Tami Shemtov, "When Your Father Shares a Name with a National Dish," 2 May 2018. (accessed and checked 22 October 2026). https://jewishfoodsociety.org/stories/when-your-father-shares-a-name-with-a-national-dish
- My Jewish Learning (The Nosher), Joel Haber, "One of Israel's Most Popular Street Foods Has a Fascinating Jewish History," 12 October 2022. (accessed and checked 22 October 2026). https://www.myjewishlearning.com/the-nosher/one-of-israels-most-popular-street-foods-has-a-fascinating-jewish-history/
