Plum Toast

Sandwiches It may sound odd to pair fresh tomatoes with soya sauce – but it works! It works beautifully. Imagine the umami of soya sauce and the tartness of tomatoes and the spice of ginger – an explosive experience for the taste buds. Pairing this with old fashioned cream cheese is the final touch that merges the open sandwich and topping with crunchy black sesame seeds not only adds the stark colour but makes me feel pretty intelligent! This is a great alternative to the traditional bruschetta or an addition to a mixed bruschetta platter. The tomato and soya toast is also a quick recipe that you can make within 15 minutes, and by adding a few extra minutes on creamy scrambled eggs – this is a complete meal for an exhausted dinner. The Recipe Serves Serves: 2 | Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook Time: 15 mins Ingredients 2-3 tomatoes, roughly sliced 2 tbsp soya sauce ½ tsp vegetable oil 1 tsp grated ginger ½ tsp salt few slices of green part of spring onions 1 tbsp cream cheese per toast 1 tsp black sesame seeds, toasted 2 slices of toasted bread of your choice Instructions Heat oil in a medium pan Add ginger and tomatoes and stir for few minutes Add salt and soya sauce and let cook for a few more minutes Remove from pan Spread the cream cheese liberally on each warm toasted bread Load the tomatoes on top and garnish with spring onions and toasted black sesame seeds Eat warm

Sandwiches Equity Sandwich is what we call it at home, I have no idea what others do – but I believe it is a household dish in most Gujarati homes. Don’t ask me why, because I have no answers, and I know better than to argue with my mother and her sisters. But a bit of digging leads me to believe that the toaster equipment was made by a brand called equity – someone please verify this for me! Equity chamcho is what we kids made a large meal out of – and I mean LARGE. Each of us sat with at least 3 chamchos, half a bottle of ketchup and tall glass of cold coffee made from whole milk and a heavy dose of vanilla ice cream. There was no messing about in this meal. Occasionally, if the gods were kind (read: my mother), we got French fries too. For the longest time I beleived equity referred to the filling – shredded cabbage, tomatoes, maybe carrots, salt, pepper, red chilli powder and lemon juice along with a lot of Amul cheese – but that’s just our home! Stuffed between classic white bread, slathered in Amul butter and put in a handheld equipment and grilled over an open flame. Nothing beats this charring taste! We recreated this for one of the BBQ lunches we had – placing it on the hot coals, lending it’s delicious flavour and aroma! Coal from coconut shells: here  Equipment: handheld sandwich maker The Recipe Serves 3 Ingredients 6 bread slices Butter ½ cup shredded cabbage ¼ - ½ cup cheese, shredded (personal choice) ¼ cup finely chopped onion 1 tomato, finely chopped ½ tsp salt ½ tsp red chili powder 1 tsp lemon juice Equipment: handheld sandwich maker https://amzn.to/39cb5ek Instructions In a bowl mix the cheese, cabbage, onion, tomato, salt, red chili powder and lemon juice together Place the mixture between two slices of bread and fasten Generously butter the outside part of the bread slices and place into the handheld sandwich toaster Place on the gas flame for 3-4 minutes on each side Serve warm with ketchup and mustard on the side On a coal-grill: Place the handheld sandwich maker on the hot coals for 5-7 minutes on each side, checking occasionally

Sandwiches Mushrooms, garlic and bread – is a classic combination that I felt the need to revamp! Usually, the warm, comforting garlic infused mushrooms with melted oozing cheese is what really touches the soul on cool nights, stressful days and even the odd hangover breakfast. But this time, I wanted to shake things up. The past few months, I’ve been working on a project that involves Piri Piri seasoning – a blend I normally don’t reach out to. My interaction was limited to the McDonald’s fries, which, honestly, just leaves me with burning lips. But with this project, I’ve been experimenting and spending a lot of time with it. So, an authentic Piri Piri seasoning bottle sat on my kitchen counter, staring at me, daring me, ‘go ahead, use me for your personal meal’. I thought, why not – right at the moment I decided to make a mushroom toast to eat in bed – and added a hefty spoonful into the mushrooms. To contrast the softer mushrooms – I wanted some crunch factor – so I made the extra effort to fry some sliced garlic to garnish (and I felt pretty proud of myself)! After everything was ready, I became doubtful of the spice factor and found a tub of mascarpone to smear on the bread slices. Not only did this hold the mushrooms nicely, but also mellowed out the heaping spoon of piri piri. You can easily substitute the mascarpone with cream cheese, hung curd, ricotta or even mayonnaise.  If you don’t have piri piri, go for any smokey spice blend, or smoked paprika with red chilli flakes. Side note: this pairs beautifully with a glass of white wine! The Recipe Serves Serves: 2 | Prep Time: 30 mins | Cook Time: 15 mins Ingredients 1 tsp vegetable oil 100g mushrooms, chopped 1 tsp mixed herbs 1 1/2 tsp piri piri seasoning 1 tsp red chili flakes ½ tsp salt 4-5 cloves of garlic, sliced 1 tbsp mascarpone per slice of bread 2 slices of bread of your choice Instructions Heat the 1 tsp olive oil in a pan Once the oil heats up, fry the garlic chips until golden and remove from the oil and place on paper napkin and set aside In the same pan, add the mushroom with salt and seasoning and cook on high heat for 5 minutes The mushrooms should be lightly cooked and not reduce too much in size – in other words, let them be juicy! Toast the bread slices with olive oil if you wish to and then spread mascarpone on top Add the mushrooms on top Add garlic fried chips on top