This is Mumbai street food and a great supper for eating in front of the TV with a cold beer or cider. Melted cheese, fresh coriander chutney and a nice bit of spice. Milder cheeses are better than strong cheddar.
Mumbai spiced cheese toastie
Ingredients
(serves 1)
For the fresh chutney:
½ green chilli, deseeded and chopped
handful fresh coriander, leaves only
leaves from 8 mint sprigs, torn
1 clove garlic, crushed
sea-salt flakes, to taste
½ tsp sugar
juice of ½ lemon
a pinch of ground cumin
a pinch of ground coriander
a pinch of ground ginger
a pinch of ground cinnamon
For the sandwich:
2 thick slices crusty white bread
50g good cheese, grated or very finely sliced
1 medium tomato, sliced thinly
¼ small red onion, very finely sliced
butter and oil, for frying (if you don’t have a toasted sandwich maker)
Put everything for the chutney, except the lemon juice, in a mortar and pound it. You can just chop everything together but the chutney is better if it has had a good pounding. Add the lemon juice.
Spread the chutney over both pieces of bread. Lay the cheese, tomato and onion on one of them and top with the other piece of bread.
Use a toasted-sandwich maker, if you have one, or melt a knob of butter and about a quarter of a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and cook the sandwich over a medium heat for about three minutes on each side, squashing it down regularly, until the cheese has melted. Serve immediately.
