Make Ahead
by: fiveandspice
September15,2014
5
6 Ratings
- Prep time 10 minutes
- Cook time 25 minutes
- Serves 4
Jump to Recipe
Author Notes
After missing out on ever getting an egg and eggplant sandwich from the Clover Food Lab food truck in Boston, I decided to have a go at making my own. I did a little research and discovered that egg-eggplant sandwiches are actually a classic Iraqi-Israeli dish. It's a delicious layering of Middle Eastern flavors—garlic, lemon, eggplant, eggs, parsley, cucumber, tomato, tahini... My version is inspired by several different versions I found in my reading. I think this works as a meal pretty much any time of day though I like it for breakfast or lunch. If you're making them for breakfast, it really helps to have prepped the components ahead of time, and then all you have to do in the morning is assemble. —fiveandspice
Test Kitchen Notes
Featured in: How to Turn 7 Eggplants Into a Week of Meals. —The Editors
- Test Kitchen-Approved
What You'll Need
Ingredients
- 1 medium eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch thick rounds
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 large tomato or a large handful of cherry tomatoes, diced (quartered if using cherry tomatoes)
- 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
- 1 small garlic clove, crushed to a paste
- 3 tablespoonsfinely chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoonfresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoonground cumin
- 2 tablespoonsplain yogurt
- 1 tablespoonolive oil
- 4 pita breads
- Hummus
- 4 large eggs, hard cooked, peeled, and sliced into rounds
- 4 small dill pickles, diced
Directions
- First roast your eggplant. Heat your oven to 425° F. On a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone liner, toss the eggplant slices with a generous amount of olive oil and a good sprinkling of salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until tender, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove. If you're making these ahead, refrigerate them then rewarm them slightly just before using.
- To make the salad part of the filling, toss the chopped tomato, cucumber, jalapeno, garlic, parsley, lemon juice, cumin, yogurt, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper together. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Sprinkle all the sliced eggs with salt and pepper. Then, to assemble your sandwiches, first warm the pitas. You can cut them in half and stuff the filling in them, or you can pile the fillings on top of each pita. Spread each pita with some hummus, then top or stuff with some slices of eggplant, some of the tomato-cucumber salad, one sliced hardboiled egg, some pickle, and any additional salt and pepper to taste.
Tags:
- Sandwich
- Israeli
- Middle Eastern
- Egg
- Vegetable
- Cumin
- Eggplant
- Lemon Juice
- Parsley
- Pickle
- Make Ahead
- Summer
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9 Reviews
MrsFalcon July 26, 2022
This was delicious - I have a lot of eggplant right now and this has been added to the dinner rotation! The 'dressing' could be its own side - so good! - and I'm probably going to add some radishes because we have a lot of those, too!
Linda D. September 4, 2018
Made this again for lunch, Emily, and I served bread and butter pickles on the side. Liked the sweet more than the dill pickles, even though I like dill pickles.
Linda D. August 26, 2018
Made it this for lunch today, Emily, and greatly enjoyed the contrast of flavors. I peeled the eggplant and brushed with olive oil before roasting. The next time I will swap bread and butter pickles for the dill for a sweet change.
Cheryl July 25, 2017
Scrumptious! Now I will be craving this. Love the roasted eggplant and I will be doing that again this summer. I diced the cooked eggplant. Instead of yogurt, I made it vegan by making a garlic tahini sauce via the NY Times (https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017913-garlic-tahini-sauce). I also had homemade dukkah on had and sprinkled that on the eggs. I used Trade Joe's Cilantro and Jalapeno Hummus. Served it on brown rice tortillas as a wrap. So many wonderful flavors!
Claire H. March 7, 2016
Can't wait to make ahead and have on hand this week!
Tanya March 26, 2015
This sandwich is magic and I cannot wait to make it again!!
Lauren F. October 7, 2014
What makes this dish for me is "ambah," an Indian-spiced mango sauce. Something like a mango chutney should do the trick, because ambah is pretty hard to find in the west...
Meredith B. September 20, 2014
Made this yesterday and I love the. Ray combination of textures, temperatures and flavors. I agree that the key is prepping elements ahead of time, and I'd love to try it with the pickles next time. Fun find!
fiveandspice September 20, 2014
Glad you liked it!
