Iraqi Sabich in Pita with Amba and Zhug with homemade zhug (s'chug) – Vegan version

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Tahini sauce

1. 1
   Mix the tahini, lemon juice and garlic and season with salt.
2. 2
   Gradually add cold water while stirring, until the sauce is smooth, pale and pourable.

   💡When you add the first water, the tahini thickens and looks like dough: that's fine. Keep adding water and stirring, and it loosens into a smooth sauce.

To assemble

1. 3
   Heat the oil in a deep pot and fry the eggplant slices in it until golden, and drain on paper towels.

   StoveSlotted spoonCandy/oil thermometerDeep pot for frying

   💡Fry eggplant for sabich until golden and completely soft, and drain well: it soaks up oil, and the paper draws out the excess.

   💡Keep the oil at 170–180°C: too cold, and the food soaks up oil; too hot, and it browns outside before the inside cooks. Without a thermometer, dip the tip of a wooden spoon in the oil: when medium bubbles form around it right away, the oil is hot enough.

   💡Don't overload the oil: every piece that goes in cools it down. Fry one piece as a test, then the rest in several batches, and transfer to paper towels.
2. 4
   Open the pitas and spread tahini sauce inside.
3. 5
   Arrange the eggplant and slices of hard-boiled flax egg in the pita.
4. 6
   Remove the seeds from the peppers.

   💡The seeds and white membranes are where the heat is: remove them all for a mild schug, leave some in for a hot one.
5. 7
   Grind the peppers in a food processor with the garlic and cilantro.

   Food processor

   💡In a food processor, grind in short pulses and check between pulses: it's easy to go from coarse to paste. (Sesame for tahini, on the other hand, is ground continuously.)
6. 8
   Add the olive oil, salt and black pepper and grind to an even paste.

   Food processor
7. 9
   Add the amba, schug, salad and pickles.