Sabich (Hebrew: סביח) is an Israeli food consisting of pita stuffed with fried eggplant and hard boiled eggs. Local consumption is said to have stemmed from a tradition among Mizrahi Jews, who ate it on Shabbat morning.[1]
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A vendor claims Sabich is the Hebrew acronym for Salad (סלט), Egg (ביצה), More Eggplant (יותר חציל).[2]
Sabich, served in pita bread, traditionally contains fried eggplant, hard boiled eggs, hummus, tahini, Israeli salad, potato, parsley and amba (a mango pickle). Traditionally it is made with haminados eggs, slow-cooked in hamin until they turn brown. Sometimes it is doused with hot sauce and sprinkled with minced onion.
Sabich was brought to Israel by Iraqi Jews who moved in the 1940's and 1950's. Ramat Gan, is where the meal was first prepared in Israel. It is called Sabich (Sabeeh) after the first Iraqi Jewish restaurateur who made it famous in Israel. On the Sabbath, when no cooking is allowed, the Jews eat a cold meal of precooked fried eggplant, cooked potatoes and hard-boiled eggs. In Israel, these ingredients were stuffed in a pita and sold as fast food. In the 1950s and 1960s, vendors began to sell the sandwich in open-air stalls.[3]