Bombay Style Sandwich

When comparing all the roadside food available on the streets of Mumbai, I think sandwich is the only option, which stands out as quick and healthy snack. Everything else is either fried or full of potatoes. Sandwich can be very boring, if you like eating spicy food, but if you can find a bhaiya (vendor) who makes tasty sandwich chutney, good chaat masala, you can enjoy it everyday without complaining.

As mentioned above, the key to making a good sandwich is having fresh and tasty chutney to spread on the bread. Click here for the recipe.

Here is the recipe for making Bombay Style Sandwich

Ingredients:
Bread Slices (White slice preferable for better taste),
Butter at Room Temperature,
Sandwich Chaat Masala, (You can use any other chaat masala if you want), Recipe Follows,
Sandwich Chutney,
2 Medium Potatoes, Boiled and Cut into Thick Round Slices
2 Medium Tomatoes Cut into Thin Round Slices,
1 Medium Indian Cucumber, or Pickling Cucumber, Cut Into Thin Slices,
1 Medium Beet, Boiled, and Cut into Thin Round Slices,
1 Small Onion, Cut into Thin Round Slices

Method for Assembling a Sandwich:
When you buy bread at the store, try to look for Sandwich bread. This bread is a little bigger in size, which allows you to spread all veggies uniformly on them. If you can’t find sandwich bread, then any type of sliced bread will work.

Stack 3-4 bread slices on each other. Remove the outer brown crust from all sides, but running a knife thru the breads. (This step is optional. I don’t remove the sides, but the vendors in India do remove them. You don’t need to throw them away. Instead you can make bread upma out of them. I will post a recipe soon.)

Spread half teaspoon of butter on one side of the slices, and place them butter side up on a flat surface. Now spread half teaspoon of the chutney (or per taste), on the buttered sides of the bread slices. Arrange a layer of the potatos on one of the bread slices. Sprinkle the sandwich masala over the potatoes. Now arrange a layer of beet and onion slices respectively over the potatoes. Sprinkle the masala again. At the end, arrange the tomato slices and cucumber slices respectively. Sprinkle the chaat masala again. Place another bread slice with sandwich and chutney side facing the veggies. Press very gently to uniformly spread the veggies apart. Depending on the size of the bread, cut it into 6 to 8 pieces. Serve with ketchup, and chutney on side.

Variation: For all you cheese lovers, grate some Amul Cheese, and sprinkle it over the sandwich before serving.

Ingredients for Making the Sandwich Masala:
¼ Cup Cumin Seeds,
1 Tsp Cloves (Laung / Lavang)
1 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Tsp Black Peppercorns
2 Tsp Fennel Seeds
2.5 Tsp Back Salt (Sanchal)
1 Tsp Dried Mango Powder (Amchur)

Method:

Dry roast the cumin seeds in a frying pan on low flame until a mild aroma leaves the seeds. Make sure to stir the seeds to heat them evenly. Let it cool. Combine the rest of the ingredients and grind to a fine powder. Store it in an airtight container and use as required.

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Chutney for Bombay Style Sandwich

The recipe below makes hot and tasty chutney to be spread on bread slices while making Bombay style sandwich.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Roughly Chopped Cilantro Leaves,
1 Slice of  Bread,
Salt to Taste,
1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice,
5-6 Hot Green Chilies, or to Taste,
3-4 Tablespoon Water


Method: Combine all the above ingredients and grind to a thick and smooth paste. Use as needed.


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Home Made Mango Shrikhand

Mango Shrikhand is an Indian sweet made with hung yogurt, and is flavored with ripe mangoes. I had never made mango shrikhand before, but I have made regular Kesar shrikhand many times before, which turns out very good.

This time, I tried a little variation in the recipe, in order to make it a bit healthier. Usually, I use Yogurt and sour cream as a base for my recipe. This time, I used Light Greek Yogurt to make the shrikhand.

I must tell you that using Greek yogurt was a wise idea, since it is very healthy, has a lot of protein, and the best thing is, it is very thick in consistency, which is perfect for making shrikhand. Also, the shrikhand tasted very good. I used mango pulp available at Indian stores to flavor the yogurt. If you can find fresh ripe mangoes, then you can make puree out of them and add it to the yogurt. You should definitely try this recipe. It takes only 5 minutes to mix all the ingredients. The only thing you need to do after that is hang it overnight, and enjoy the freshly made shrikhand the next day.

Here are the Ingredients required to make Mango Shrikhand
1 lb Hung Greek Yogurt, (I used low fat, but you can definitely try with full fat version).
1/2 Cup Sugar, (Adjust the Quantity per Your Taste)
1/4 Cup Sweetened Mango Pulp,
A Pinch Saffron,
2 Tablespoon Slivered Almonds, Roasted
1 Tablespoon Chopped Pistachios,
1/8th Teaspoon Freshly Ground Nutmeg Powder
1/4th Teaspoon Cardamom Powder

Method: If the yogurt contains any liquid, drain it, and then transfer the yogurt to a mixing bowl. Add the sugar and mango pulp to it, and stir lightly to combine well. Do not over mix. Transfer this mix to a cheese cloth. Tie the cloth and hang this mixture in the fridge over night. Make sure to keep a bowl under the cloth so that all the liquid drains out in a bowl.

In order to "hang" the cloth, I put the cloth in a fine mesh container (the one used to wash and drain veggies and rice). I put that mesh container in a large enough bowl such that the sides of the container are supported by the bowl, but the bottom stays suspended. Then I let the mixture sit in the fridge over night.

The next day, transfer the mixture from the muslin cloth to a serving bowl. Add the nutmeg powder and 3/4th of the chopped almond and pistachios to the mixture. Add the saffron and mix well. Sprinkle the remaining almonds and pistachios on top as a garnish, and serve chilled along with warm paratha or puri.

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Khajur Paak or Khajur Rolls

Khajur pak is a very healthy dish, which doesn't require too many ingredients, and is easy to make. Khajur (Dates) contain a lot of beneficial vitamins and minerals and are naturally very sweet, so no sugar is required to make this sweet dish. They are very good for diabetic people too.

This diwali, I thought of making some healthy sweets instead of the regular milk and mava based ones. I had a lot of Black dates at home, so I made khajur pak out of some of them. You can substiture the regular variety (red dates??) for the black ones I used here.

One more change I made to the recipe was, instead of only adding chopped nuts to make khajur pak, I also added muesli mix to it. Muesli is a popular breakfast cereal based on uncooked rolled oats, fruit and nuts. My mix had rolled oats, wheat bran, barley flakes, flex seeds, raisins, cranberries and chopped nuts. The addition of muesli is absolutley optional, but it does enhanse the taste, texture and nutritional value of this snack.

Here is the recipe for making khajur pak. I am showing the generic recipe with nuts, but if you do want to add muesli, substiture the nuts listed below with the same amount of muesli mix. You should be able to find muesli at a health food store such as whole foods, but if you can't find it, then you can add some rolled oats and flex seeds powder to the original recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 Kg Dates,Deseeded and Chopped into Small Pieces
2 Tablespoons Ghee (Unsalted Butter),
1 Cup Chopped Mixed Nutes (UnsalteD),
1/8 Cup, Coarsey Ground Peanut Powder
1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds, for Garnishing (Optional)

Method:
Heat the ghee in a thick bottom pan. Once it is hot, add the nuts (or muesli mix). Stir and roast on low for a minute or two. Now add the chopped dates and the peanut powder. Stir well to combine all the ingredients. Turn the heat to medium-low. Let it cook for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure that the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Once you see the mixture coming together to make a lump (7-10 minutes), turn off the stove and remove the mixture in a flat plate. Let it cool a bit so that you can make a roll out of it using your hands. Make a 2-3 inch diameter roll out of the lump. Spread the poppy seeds on the flat plate. Roll the mixture in the seeds so that it is coated uniformly. Let the roll cool completley. Cut into pieces.

Alternatively, you can make tiny bite size rolls out of the warm mixture, and roll them in poppy seeds.
The picture here shows both, the tiny bite size rolls, and the flat disc type rolls.


This entry is a part of Sara's Corner's Healthy Food for Healthy Kids Contest  and Nithu's Healthy Food for Healthy Kids Contest  

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