Ingredient overview Steps
Overview
When Chetna Makan was growing up in central India, a sandwich appeared more often than any other in the lunch boxes of her and her classmates: a toasted number filled with cabbage, peppers and more, tied in yogurt.
“Plus, it’s so hot in India, it’s a pretty refreshing sandwich,” she said, adding that it gets its creaminess from yogurt rather than “mayonnaise, which is completely unhealthy.” You can add veg, and it’s just crunchy you can taste.
[How to upgrade your favorite sandwich]
Makan has written several cookbooks since arriving in the semifinals of “The Great British Bake-Off” in 2014 and winning in 2016, and the most recent is “Chetna’s Healthy Indian Vegetarian” (Mitchell Beazley, 2020). Her father went vegetarian a few decades ago, her husband comes from a vegetarian family, so the couple and their two children can have chicken a few times a week, but “mostly eat vegetables”.
“People think vegetarian is boring, the same old beans, the same old cauliflower,” she says. “But it’s much more.”
These sandwiches prove his point and also show that tasty vegetarian cooking doesn’t require a lot of effort either. You chop the cabbage and pepper, plus a chili and cilantro, grate a carrot and add thick yogurt, salt and pepper.
The finishing touch is in the pan, where the black mustard seeds sizzle in the little piece of butter you use to fry the sandwiches, adding another touch of flavor to the creaminess and crunch of my new favorite breakfast.
Scale and get a printable version of the recipe here.
Serve with ketchup or Indian chili sauce, if desired. Sandwiches shouldn’t be eaten hot, but they are best on the day they are made.
Ingredients
1 cup finely chopped green cabbage
3/4 cup grated carrot (about 1 medium carrot)
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 small green chili, seeded, seeded and finely chopped
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
3/4 cup (6 ounces) plain whole milk Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 slices of white sandwich bread
4 teaspoons of butter (preferably salted)
1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
Ketchup or Indian chili sauce, for serving (optional)
Not
Step 1
In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, carrot, bell pepper, chili and cilantro. Stir in yogurt, salt and pepper until well combined. Taste and season with more salt, if necessary.
2nd step
Place 4 slices of bread on your countertop and distribute the yogurt mixture evenly between them. Top sandwiches with remaining slices of bread.
Step 3
Heat a medium skillet or griddle over medium heat until hot. Add 1 teaspoon of butter and 1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds. Let them sizzle for a few seconds, then place two sandwiches in the pan (over the mustard seeds) and cook until golden brown and crispy on the bottom, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn them over, add another 1 teaspoon of butter and cook until golden brown on this side, 1 to 2 minutes.
Step 4
Transfer the sandwiches (and lost mustard seeds) to a plate and repeat with the remaining sandwiches. Serve whole or cut into triangles, with ketchup or chili sauce, if desired.
Adapted from “Chetna’s Healthy Indian Vegetarian” by Chetna Makan (Mitchell Beazley, 2020).
Tested by Joe Yonan; Email your questions to [email protected].
Scale and get a printable version of the recipe here.
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Browse our recipe finder for over 9,000 tested recipes at washingtonpost.com/recipes.
More Weekly Vegetarian Recipes from Voraciously:
Beat the heat with this quick-cooking pan of garlic beans, broccoli and pesto
Peak summer corn does not need to be cooked. This bright salad with snow peas and zucchini proves it.
This roasted cauliflower sandwich proves vegetables can be filling and even indulgent
Nutrition
Calories: 299; Total fat: 8 g; Saturated fat: 4 g; Cholesterol: 15 mg; Sodium: 616 mg; Carbohydrates: 31 g; Dietary fiber: 3 g; Sugars: 6 g; Protein: 9 g.