Grilled Carrot & Cheese Sandwich

Bread is perhaps the longest running love affair through the ages for chefs and gourmands alike. The feel of biting into a piece of generously buttered bread (if freshly baked, even better!) ... Oh! no pleasure greater for the taste buds! The best thing about bread is it's versatality. Across the world, every culture has some form of it. Bread allows so much of scope to play with different flavourful fillings, spreads and such.

Guess what I have today to make a neat and simple sandwich? Freshly grated carrots and cheese! Well the idea of making these sandwiches was to experiment with flavours that famous street food joints deliver. They have such simple dishes that require absolutely no time at all yet are a treat to the palate. I remember eating yummy grilled mixed veggie and cheese sandwiches sometime back in Bangalore. Oh! they were heavenly. Rich and oozing with cheese!

And today's carrot and cheese sandwiches are a take on those yummy sandwiches I had sometime ago. Oh, boy! never did a spur of the moment idea turn out so well. I haven't added too much cheese just so to keep it light, healthy and fresh. But in case you like your sandwiches oozing and bursting with cheese, feel free to add more! It's well spiced and hot and will go into a wrap or sandwich bread and make a pretty good breakfast, lunch or snack!

This easy and delicious dish can be made in minutes and is the perfect meal.

Ingredients

Bread Slices – 8 to 10

Carrot (grated) - 5

Cheese (grated) - as desired

Tomato (finely chopped) - 1

Big Onion (finely chopped) - 1

Fresh Coriander leaves (finely chopped) - 7 to 8 tbsp

Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp to 3/4 tsp (adjust as per spice tolerance)

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp (add more if you like the taste)

Butter - just enough to spread on the bread slices

Oil - 1 to 2 tsp

Method

Heat oil in a pan and splutter cumin seeds. Add finely chopped onions and salt and saut'e till onions turn light brown. Once onions have browned, add turmeric powder, chilli powder, and garam masala and saut'e till raw smell disappears. Now add the chopped tomatoes and saut'e till tomatoes turn soft. Now add the grated carrot and cover and cook for 1 minute. After a minute, remove the lid and add freshly chopped coriander leaves (add more salt if necessary) and keep stirring till carrot is cooked well and excess water evaporates. Once done, keep aside.

To prepare the sandwich, take bread slices and lightly butter them.

Place the buttered bread slices on the grill/toaster, spread 1 or 2 spoonfuls of the carrot mixture onto it. (make sure you evenly spread the mixture to all sides of the bread slices) Grate cheese onto the carrot mixture. Place buttered slices of bread on top of the filling and grill for about 3 to 4 minutes (follow your grill/toaster cooking instructions), allowing the cheese to melt and to give the bread slices that extra crisp.

Once done, remove from the grill/toaster and serve with a sauce/ketchup or chutney/dip of your choice.

And there you go, Grilled Carrot & Cheese Sandwiches! Enjoy!

Notes: For the healthier version, you can avoid cheese and have it just as it is.