Grilled Vegetable Sandwich
This is one of my all-time favourite sandwiches. Why? It has so much nutritional goodness and uses 10 grain baguette. It’s so simple and quick to make yet a totally guilt-free and satisfying meal. In any great sandwich, I believe the most important ingredient is the bread. I mean you can almost always eat the everything between the bread layers on its own, so why eat the bread! The bread has to be worth it to eat those extra carbs! 🙂
When I think about some of my favourite sandwiches, the actual bread is the main thing that comes to mind. For example, in the US, Panera Bread and Publix use the yummiest bread! That said, by far the most variety that I have seen is in German bakeries, it was like walking into bread paradise! When I was in Munich last year for about five months, I truly fell in love with German breads (not because I had nothing else to eat in the country where people love their meats :)); so many whole grain varieties packed with flavour and goodness!
We all see whole-grain this and that, but what does that really mean and why is it good for us? Whole grains contain all the parts of the wheat stalk without its bran and germ removed by milling. Whole grains are naturally packed full with vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients including fibre, iron, and zinc. As this is a high-fibre food, it makes you feel full for longer and helps you reach/maintain your healthy weight. Not only that, many studies have shown whole-grain to help lower your risk of diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer.
It’s easy to meet that daily allowance of whole-grain: you don’t really have to try as it’s actually hard to avoid it :). Use whole-grain bread instead of white bread, eat oatmeal or buckwheat cereal, whole-meal waffles or pancakes, corn tortilla, brown rice, etc. Nowadays, most of the products you will have a whole-grain option! Next time when you are shopping, be sure to check for the word “whole” as part of the first ingredient.
Feeds 2/ Foot Long Sandwich/Total Time: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients:
1 Zucchini/Courgette
1/2 medium Eggplant/Aubergine
2 Portobello Mushrooms
2 Red/Orange bell peppers
Handful of fresh spinach leaves
3-4 tbsp of Pesto
Hard cheese of your choice, sliced
Foot long baguette, preferably multi(7-10) grain
Olive oil (‘Extra Virgin’ for drizzling and cold-pressed or blended for grilling)
Salt & Pepper, to taste
1. Cut all vegetables into long thick slices/chunks, except for spinach.
2. In a pan, heat some olive oil and grill all the vegetables on high heat for about 5-7 minutes until tender and season with salt and pepper.
3. While the vegetables are grilling, slice the baguette, spread pesto on the inside of the two halves. Once vegetables are prepared, layer each of them on the baguette. Next, place the slices of cheese and finally, layer fresh spinach. Drizzle little bit of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper over spinach and cover with the other half of baguette. Delicious!
Thanks to the kind and generous gift from my close friends in Atlanta, Ni and Monisha, we now have a Cuisinart Grill/Griddle machine that makes grilling anything so easy and you always get that charred flavour coming through. We are yet to crack into the packet of paneer that has been in the fridge for a few weeks so watch this space for the tikka recipe!
On a final note, for those that wondered whether my blogging career was already over after 30 posts, fear not: we have a family wedding over this weekend for which I was quite thrilled to be asked to prepare some bite-size desserts. I will post up how I got on in the coming days 🙂
Kadhi (Hot Yoghurt Soup)
Kadhi is very light to digest and contains ample amounts of calcium and protein. It’s so easy and quick to whip up, it’s the perfect Indian soup to have even when you are feeling sick.
Kadhi is made in many different ways in India, depending on the region. My version is closer to the Gujarati style with the addition of sugar or jaggery (ghor). Another variation is one that I have learnt from my mom, who suggests using a paste of the stalks of coriander to make it more flavourful. I love coriander and I would put it on everything, including desserts! 🙂 Not to mention the health benefits of coriander.
Serves 2-3 / Total time: 10-15 minutes
1 cup yoghurt (greek yoghurt gives you a more creamier consistency)
1/2 to 3/4 cup water
2 small green chilies, 2 cm ginger, 6-8 stalks of coriander (leaves removed), all pureed
1/4 tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp gram (chana) flour
1 tsp oil or purified butter (ghee)
pinch of sugar or jaggery (ghor) -optional
few sprigs of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
Spice Batch # 1: 1/4 tsp of cumin seeds (jeera), 1/4 tsp of mustard seeds (rai), pinch of asafoetida (hing), 2 cloves, 8-10 curry leaves
1. Mix gram flour, yoghurt and water until smooth consistency in a sauce pan. Add the chilli-ginger-coriander paste, sugar, salt and bring to boil. Stir regularly to avoid it splitting.
2. Meanwhile prepare the tempering by heating the ghee or oil until hot and add Spice Batch #1. Temper for roughly 15 seconds or until the spice aroma is released. Be sure not to allow the leaves to burn.
3. Stir the temper mix, including the oil, into the simmering liquid in the saucepan. Simmer gently for few more minutes.
4. Sprinkle the fresh coriander on top and serve hot.
Toasties
Do you have one of those lazy days, where you just want to eat a warm healthy snack but do not want to make a lot of effort? Well, this is what you are looking for. The beauty about this snack is you can add whatever you have. I personally like to add some sort of protein by adding any kind of bean I have at home. The key is to chop all the ingredients fairly fine, so that not any one ingredient is overpowering. Get ready to chop and mix! 🙂
Make 4 sandwiches/Total time: 20 minutes
8 slices bread (preferably whole wheat, multi grain)
spreadable butter
Filling:
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup sweetcorn
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp chilli powder
2/3 cup baked beans, black beans, drained any liquid
1/4 cup cheese of your choice (goats, cheddar, feta), crumbled or grated
salt and pepper to taste
handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
Tools:
Sandwich Maker
1. Combine all of the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix.
2. Lightly butter the bread slices. Heat the sandwich maker and place two slices buttered side facing down on the sandwich maker plate. Place 1/4 of the filling on each bread. Cover the top with another piece of bread and press down the sandwich maker. It should be ready to eat in a few minutes. Repeat for another batch.
You can have it on its own or serve with Maggie sauce, ketchup or your favourite sauce.
VegDelights 