Sabich (eggplant and egg pitas)
Soft roasted eggplant, sliced eggs, a crunchy chopped salad and creamy tahini stuffed into warm pita, the Israeli street sandwich that fills you up.
- 45 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $2.41 a serving
- 480 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 eggplant, sliced into ½-inch rounds
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup tahini
- 1 lemon, juiced, divided
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1 cucumber, finely diced
- 2 Roma tomatoes, finely diced
- ¼ red onion, finely chopped
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 4 pita bread
- 2 dill pickles, sliced
- ½ cup hummus (optional)
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1¼ tsp salt, divided
Each serving has about 480 calories, 17 g protein, 52 g carbs and 24 g fat, and costs about $2.41 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No cucumbers? English cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No red onions? White onions or yellow onions work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
- No pita bread? Flour tortillas work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 425°F. Brush the eggplant slices on both sides with 2 tablespoons of the oil, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and spread them on a .
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Sheet pan. A sheet pan is a flat metal baking tray with a low rim all the way around. The rim catches juices, and the wide surface lets food spread out and brown.
How you’ll know: Everything fits in one layer with a little space between the pieces.
Dolly’s tip: Eggplant soaks up oil like a sponge, so brush it on rather than pouring.20 to 25 minutes, flipping halfway, until deep and soft all the way through.
Roast. Roasting means cooking in a hot oven, around 400°F to 450°F, usually spread out on a sheet pan. The dry heat browns the outside and brings out sweetness, especially in vegetables.
How you’ll know: The edges are browned and a little crisp, and a fork slides easily into the thickest piece.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 22 min 30 sec
Meanwhile, put the eggs in a , cover with cold water and on high. Turn off the heat, cover and leave them 12 minutes, then move them to ice water.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heatTimer: 12 min
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
the tahini with half the lemon juice, the garlic, ¼ teaspoon salt and 3 to 4 tablespoons of water until it pours like cream.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
the cucumber, tomatoes, onion and parsley with the rest of the oil, lemon juice and salt for the salad.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
the eggs and them into rounds.
Peel. Peeling means removing the skin with a vegetable peeler or a small knife. It takes off tough or bitter skins, though potato and carrot skins are fine to leave on unless the recipe insists.
How you’ll know: The color underneath is even all over, with no patches of skin left behind.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Warm the pitas and open them up. Spread hummus inside, then stuff in eggplant, egg slices, salad and pickles, and with tahini sauce.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Dolly’s tip: For lunches, pack the eggplant and eggs together, the salad and sauce separately, and stuff the pita at lunch. Keep it cold with an ice pack until then.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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