Italian Flavoured Open Sandwich

Dear Foodies,

This open sandwich which I prepared first time in my house. It is an Italian twist to very famous Indian street food called masala pav (spicy bread/bun).

India is very famous for its history and culture but you have to try the street food. We Indians love our street food more than we like to eat in a restaurant. There are endless possibilities when it comes to street food. The weather in India also helps street food vendors so they can operate all around the year. We get many different kinds of sandwiches to chats, paratha and curries, omelets to pakodas and deserts to ice creams. You will find vendors in every street corner so it is very easy to find food anytime of the day or at night.

These sandwiches are prepared using similar ingredients as pav bhaji but I wanted to try something different. I had leftover buns lying around when I prepared pav bhaji few days back. When I decided to give a try, I was thinking of what kind of flavours will go with the ingredients. I ended up with Italian flavours which we all love. I have grown oregano and sweet basil in my house so I didn’t have to go far to find the fresh herbs. If you don’t have access to fresh oregano, you can use dry. This recipe serves 2 people

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
4 buns
2 onion finely chopped
2 tomato finely chopped
1 red or orange bell pepper finely chopped
1 jalapeno finely chopped
10-12 sweet basil leaves
1 tsp fresh/dry oregano
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking
Butter
Grated Mozzarella cheese

Procedure

1. Cut vegetables as shown in the picture.

2. Heat a pan on medium heat. When oil is hot, add chili flakes and saute for 30 seconds. Then add chopped onion and saute for 2 minutes until onion starts to be translucent stirring frequently. Then add chopped bell pepper, jalapeno and salt, cook on medium heat for 2 more minutes. Then add chopped tomato and oregano. Also add 1/4 cup water which will help tomato soften. Cover with lid and cook for 2-3 minutes stirring frequently. When tomato are bit soft, mash slightly with masher. In 1-2 minutes when mixture starts to dry out, turn off the heat and add torn fresh sweet basil. Mix well. You want to keep slight crunch to bell pepper, so don’t over cook.

3. When you are ready, slice bun from the middle. In a flat pan, toast bun in butter cut side down until it is crispy. flip the bread and add more butter in the pan. Now spread cooked vegetable on the top side and grated cheese. Cover with lid and cook on low to medium heat until cheese on the top start to melt and bottom of the bread is crispy.

4. Serve when hot. Serve this open sandwich for breakfast, lunch or dinner. This sandwich has wonderful flavours of sweet basil and oregano. My family absolutely enjoyed it.