I got the idea for today’s breakfast when I was realised that there was more alu than we needed in last night’s mangshor jhol. Potatoes in meat curry.
So I kept a couple of pieces of potato and a teaspoon of the curry aside in the fridge and half of the tomato and the onion that I had used to make a salad for dinner.
The idea was to make a sandwich, using leftovers in the best traditions of the grandmoms and mothers of India. My first encounter of a toast sandwich was when I was 8 and when my didu (maternal grandmother) would make it for me, using a handheld toaster, during my weekend visits to her house.
Today’s breakfast sandwich was inspired by that and partly by the masala toast sandwich of the streets of Mumbai (which are fully veg).
I used a spoon to mash the potatoes this morning with the gravy and spread it out on slices of bread. Not the Britannia or Modern or Priya white sandwich bread that we had as kids. This was the ragi millet bread that we had picked up at the Baker’s Dozen, Bandra, last evening.
I put a few slices of onion, tomatoes and finely chopped green chillies on the mash. The latter was a bit too hot for me to handle and I took them out midway while eating! I sprinkled some black pepper, chaat masala and aamchur (dried mango powder) and closed the sandwich and put them in the griller. I had to grease it with butter in today. Olive oil or avocado oil sprays would not cut ice in this case!
What came out made me sing, “it’s a lovely day,” for this was the ultimate Indian grandmom’s loveyourleftovers grilled sandwich!
The Kitty Karmakars
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| It’s a lovely day |
