Southwest 5
to 7, becoming variable 3 or 4.
Slight or
moderate.
Showers.
Moderate or
good.
Sometimes
you come across food and think: “Why did no one tell me earlier about it”. I
had to turn 52 to learn about Sabich. I was queuing in Golders Green for a
Falafel Shawarma and saw the word Sabikh. I turned around and asked the person
behind me what that is. He looked me up and down and said: “Israel`s best loved
sandwich”. “Oh”, I said, “I did not know that”.
The reaction
around me was...interesting. Interesting as in standing in front of a bakery in
Paris and telling the people around you: “I did not know the French ate
croissants”. But they were all nice and told me how it is prepared here and
there and where to get the best in town and if I ever go to Tel Aviv where to
eat it. They also told me straight-faced that it is an old Iraqi-Jewish
breakfast, to be eaten traditionally on the Shabbat because everything is
prepared in advance. I swallowed everything. Even the Sabich, which is insanely
good.
Apart from
it being utterly delicious, the rest is bullshit. To be fair I don’t think they
were trying to pull my leg, the same myths can be found on the internet.
Yes, it is a
popular street food. And yes it has some elements of an Iraqi breakfast. But
ultimately it is “hipster food”, which became famous in the 1970s; probably
invented by some hungry Jewish teenagers in the 1950s, who threw everything
they found in the fridge together and it worked like a dream. It is a (everything
but the) “kitchen sink” sandwich. Even the name has a dodgy history. Some claim
it has something to do with mornings, others with salad and yet a third group
says Sabich was the name of the man who set up the first Sabich stall. He was
probably one of the teenagers who invented it.
Just to give
you an example what kind of insane stories are made up about the Sabich: One
ingredient which is often used (but not mandatory) is “Amba”, a mango sauce.
It tastes
very similar to the Indian mango pickle,
in fact you can use every pickle you have at home. Trust me on this one, I have tried Amba and used today a Mini Gherkin (tindori) pickle.
Now, I read several times that “this important ingredient symbolizes the spice
route and it commonly known as Mango chutney...” blablabla. First of all it is
not a chutney but a pickle (relish), and second the whole Middle East uses
pickles, and if you happen to have mangos, you pickle them. Long before the
spice route passed through. And not
everyone uses Amba, some use Zhoug, or both together; other jalapenos and
others pickled red cabbage and Harissa. As you can see, the common denominator
is vinegar and spicy. But plenty of recipes omit it all together.
So, what is
a "must be" ingredient? From what I have read and tried out, there are 4 items
which are always used: Grilled or fried aubergine slices, a hard-boiled egg,
some kind of sesame sauce and parsley. Common are also boiled cold potatoes, a
salad and Amba. The bread can be a pita or another flat bread, but it can be also served open faced.
The sesame
sauce is either thinned Tahini or Houmous, or both. Some add yoghurt. Others dill
pickles. Most layer the ingredients, others toss them all together and stuff them
into the pita bread.
So feel free
to swap one of the optional ingredients (not red) if you don’t like them.
Sabich
1 large pita
bread
4 slices of 1
aubergine
1 hard-boiled
egg
1 tablespoon of
tahini
a few sprigs of
flat-leaf parsley
2
tablespoons of houmous
1 cooked
potato in its skin
1 small
tomato
3 rounds of
cucumber
1 shallot
lemon juice
and salt
olive oil
1 tablespoon
of a pickle of your choice
Cut the shallot
and sprinkle it with a bit of lemon juice and salt. Cut the cucumber rounds,
the tomato and the parsley in small pieces, add to the shallot, sprinkle with
more lemon juice and salt and put for a few minutes into the fridge.
Mix the
Tahini with 1 tbsp of water, a bit of salt and a small drop of lemon juice and
whisk until smooth.
Heat olive
oil and fry the aubergine rounds until soft and slightly charred at the skin
(you can also grill them in the oven, brushed with olive oil). In the meantime
slice the potato and the egg. Toast your pita bread and take the salad out.
While the
pita is still warm, open it and layer it as follow:
The houmous,
topped by the aubergine, topped by the potato, topped by the tahini sauce,
topped by the egg, topped by the salad and add finally the pickles. By now your
Sabich will be pretty full and you wish you went for a bigger size of pita.
Tuck in and
enjoy.
Sorry about
the lousy photo, but I wanted to eat it while still warm.
Update:
Since I still
had all the ingredients, minus the potato, I made it today again for breakfast.
So the layering was a follow:
Houmous, fried
aubergines, Tahini sauce, egg, salad and pickle.
I prefer it
without the potato. Much creamier; mindboggling satisfying Vegetarian breakfast
of the Gods. Or Goddesses.
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