Sabich

Sabich is a pita packed with fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, hummus, chopped salad and amba, a tart pickled-mango relish that ties the whole sandwich together. It was invented in the 1950s in Ramat Gan, just outside Tel Aviv, by Jewish immigrants from Iraq, who turned a Saturday breakfast eaten before synagogue — fried eggplant, boiled egg, pickles — into a sandwich sold from a stall. Sabich Frishman, the stand that made it famous, still draws a line at lunchtime.

What it really is

Sliced eggplant fries in oil until it goes soft and deeply browned, almost collapsing against the bread. It goes into a pita with a hard-boiled egg, quartered or sliced, a smear of hummus or tahini, a chopped tomato-and-cucumber salad, pickles, and a thin drizzle of amba — an Iraqi Jewish condiment of pickled unripe mango, mustard seed, fenugreek and turmeric, sour and slightly bitter at once. The amba is not a garnish; without it, the sandwich loses the acidity the fried eggplant needs to stop tasting only of oil.

How it's served

• In a whole or half pita, wrapped in paper, eaten standing at the counter or on a nearby bench.
• Amba and a chili sauce offered on the side or already worked in, depending on the stall.
• Rarely plated with cutlery — it's built to be eaten with both hands.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the amba specifically. Guests who know sabich look for it by name, and guests who don't will ask what's in the sauce.
• Flag the egg, and the sesame in the tahini or hummus.
• Offer it without the egg for a vegan version; the rest of the sandwich already qualifies.