When they say you should eat the rainbow, I take that very literally with my Rainbow Sabich Salad with Spicy Tahini Dressing!
Last weekend I took an impromptu trip to New Orleans. Because when a friend says “do you want to drive for 8 hours for a hurricane and po boy?” you just say yes every time. Okay, we flew. But I would have driven! It’s the drive back that’s a killer. Beignets, beads, and conning our ways onto parade floats. The answer is yes. Always yes!
New Orleans can be kind of like Las Vegas (minus getting whipped cream delivered to your room on a silver platter and having a pregnant waitress fill up your yard glass with mimosas. But I digress.) Really I mean two days is enough, three is pushing it, and four may land you in jail. Needless to say I was ready to get back to Austin and a quasi healthy lifestyle.
Recently I have been obsessed with the sabich (hellloo Tex Mex Sabich!) The Israeli pita sandwich stuffed with fried eggplant, hard boiled eggs, tahini, Israeli salad and a variety of sauces including amba, a tangy pickled mango condiment. The result is earthy, spicy, sweet, tangy, and crunchy. It’s just delicious. So I thought self, why not make a sabich salad?? The rest, as they say, is history. And by history I mean this blog post.
Serve with amba sauce for another traditional option!

Rainbow Sabich Salad with Spicy Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
- For salad:
- 1 medium eggplant cut into 1/2 inch slices
- Salt
- 4 red potatoes cut into quarters
- 1 beet peeled and small diced
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 small cucumber small diced
- 1 Roma tomato small diced
- 4 cups arugula
- 2 tablespoons chives
- For dressing:
- 1/2 cup tahini paste
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 3 roasted hatch chilies
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup water more or less depending on how thick you want the dressing
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Season eggplant liberally with salt and let sit for 20 minutes to remove some of the bitter taste.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Brush eggplant and potatoes with olive oil and season with salt. Place on a foil lined cookie sheet.
- Drizzle beets with olive oil and salt and place on a separate foil lined cookie sheet. Roast vegetables until tender, about 25 minutes, and set aside.
- Meanwhile, hard boil your eggs. Put them in cold water, bring to a boil and simmer for 12 minutes. Let cool in an ice bath, peel and separate yolks from whites and dice.
- To make dressing, process all ingredients in a food processor. Add in enough water to get desired texture and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- To build salad, lay down a bed of arugula. Place in piles or rows the eggplant, potatoes, beets, cucumbers, tomatoes, egg white and yolks. Drizzle with dressing and garnish with chives.
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