Sabich-style fried aubergine and egg pita with amba and tahini

Crisp fried aubergine slices, hard-boiled egg, Israeli salad and pickled cabbage stuffed into warm pitta with tahini, amba and zhug — Iraqi-Israeli street food at its best.

Ingredients

• 1 large aubergine, sliced 1 cm thick
• Salt for drawing out moisture
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 4 eggs, hard-boiled and quartered
• 4 pitta breads
• For the Israeli salad: 2 tomatoes, finely diced
• 1 cucumber, finely diced
• 1/2 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• A handful of parsley, chopped
• To serve: 4 tbsp tahini sauce
• 2 tbsp amba (or mango pickle)
• 2 tbsp zhug (or chopped fresh chilli and coriander)
• Pickled cabbage or pickled chillies
• Fresh mint leaves

Method

1. Prep the aubergine. Salt the slices liberally and leave for 20 minutes. Pat completely dry — this is the difference between greasy and crisp aubergine.

2. Fry. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high and fry the aubergine in batches for 3-4 minutes per side until deeply golden.

3. Make the Israeli salad by combining all the ingredients in a bowl.

4. Warm the pittas in a dry pan or briefly in the oven.

5. Assemble. Split each pitta open and layer: aubergine, Israeli salad, hard-boiled egg, pickled cabbage, fresh mint. Drizzle generously with tahini, dot with amba and zhug.

Notes

Amba is a tangy mango pickle from Iraq , substitute with mango chutney thinned with a splash of vinegar if you can’t find it.