Iraqi Sabich in Pita with Amba and Zhug with homemade zhug (s'chug) and homemade tahini sauce

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Tahini sauce

1. 1
   Mix the tahini and lemon juice 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.
3. 3
   Mix the tahini, lemon juice and garlic and season with salt.
4. 4
   Gradually add cold water while stirring, until the sauce is smooth, pale and pourable.

To assemble

1. 5
   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. 6
   Open the pitas and spread tahini sauce inside.
3. 7
   Arrange the eggplant and slices of hard-boiled egg in the pita.
4. 8
   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. 9
   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. 10
   Add the olive oil, salt and black pepper and grind to an even paste.

   Food processor
7. 11
   Add the amba, schug, salad and pickles.