When i was a child I used to ask my parents every time we left our neighbourhood if we are still in our country.
For me the definition of “home” didn’t represent only the four walls with the garden where I grow up at, I really believe that what I knew is what only exists, that created who I am, the language I speak, the people around me,
the house with the two floors with it’s four walls and a garden, who designed me and taught me how to walk, how to behave, how to think and how to love.
8 years ago I left my parents’ house. I remember the first night I spent in my new four walls at the roommate apartment in the center of Tel Aviv.
Of course my dad was the one who help me to move myself and all my stuff, and when he finished putting shelves on my walls, he hugged me and whit tears in his eyes he said: “See you in the weekend Rod-Rod”, and me? I closed the door behind him, ran fast to my room, scrolled into my bed and started to cry.
5 years later I told my parents I’m leaving the country, this time it’s not the childhood house, not the familiar neighbourhood, it was leaving the reality I knew, the language, the sight, it was all the smells I loved, it was my father’s tearing up in my doorstep, telling me: “See you in the weekend Rod-Rod”.
I was 5, I was 15, 20, 25 and 30. Now I’m looking at our cats, who for them for sure life is happening in the 1000 square metres of where we live, for them everything more far away is going abroad, and they see us coming and going and returning and leaving and than coming back.
They are my four walls, they are my language, they are the people around me, “See you in the weekend”, I wish I could say every time when I leave, but I’m not saying, I’m only crying on my own doorstep, sometimes from being sad, but most of the time from happiness, thinking of all the houses I ever had, and all those that are still ahead of me.
Sabich is a popular street food in Tel Aviv, just as falafels, or pizza slices around the world. Traditionally it’s absolutely not vegan, lucky me, I have Kristof, to make it for me, every time I miss the tastes of what I left behind. Here is the recipe, enjoy it
Ingredients (for four):
1 aubergine
1 large potato (or sweet potato)
1 Avocado (or tofu)
8 tbsp. mango chutney/apricot jam mixed with Indian spices
the juice of 1 lemon or orange
2 clove garlic
salt, pepper, cumin
olive oil
4 teaspoons of tahini or peanut butter
4 buns/pitas/bagels
Steps:
1. We dice up the aubergine and the potato and while constantly turning them, we fry them in olive oil till they turn soft. To speed up the process we cover the frying pan with tin foil, when they are almost ready but still a bit hard. To give it a bit more dominant flavor, we can also sprinkle it with smoked paprika and oriental cumin.
2. We make the tahini in the meanwhile: we mix the tahini with just enough water to get a thick, smooth cream, pour in lemon juice, season with cumin, salt and pepper and add some olive oil – this will result in a light dressing. When we use peanut butter, we replace the lemon with orange, which goes well with peanuts. Those who love the piquant taste can crush in a clove of garlic too.
3. We remove the pit of the avocado, cut it into thin slices, sprinkle black salt on it, splash olive oil and lemon juice and season with pepper.
4. There's nothing else to be done than to pile these delicacies on top of each other: we cut up my bagel – this time, with poppy seeds – cover it with tahini, spoon on the fried aubergine/potato ragout, mango chutney and finish up with the avocado slices. The bagel top also gets some tahini, and some chutney can never hurt.
5. It's an enthralling snack with a glass of cold wheat beer or minty lemonade, but it can also serve as a main dish on friendly dinner parties – it is just as filling and exciting as a perfectly made burger. The hot and spicy maniacs (like ourselves) can spice it up with some tabasco.