This is going to be last post before I fly to India for a month to take care of my parents. I will sign off for a month then will return to blogging in April. Thank you to all of my loyal subscribers and readers.
It has been almost 9 months since I started this blog. This blog is like a child that I created, nourished it and now watching it grow. I must say it has been a true pleasure sharing my recipes with all of you.
Please be patient while I am gone for a month. I promise, I will be back with more.
Here is my favorite Sandwich. I love it !! so much so that I am going to take with me for snack during my layover in Newark, while I wait for my connection to India.
This sandwich is adapted from British Origin and traditionally is called Cucumber tea sandwich.
Because of English influence on Indian culture, in India, cucumber sandwiches are popular during cricket matches and weekend picnics. The Indian variant is flavored with green chutney, and sometimes contains slices of boiled potatoes.
As the thinness of the bread is a point of pride in the kitchen, a dense-textured white Pullman loaf is cut with a wide-bladed knife, which guides the cut; daylight should pass through the resulting fine pores. The peel of the cucumber is either removed or scored lengthwise with a fork before the cucumber is sliced. The slices of bread are carefully buttered all the way to the edges in the thinnest coating, which is only to protect the bread from becoming damp with cucumber juice, and the slices of cucumber, which have been sprinkles with salt and lemon juice, are placed in the sandwich just before serving in order to prevent the sandwich from becoming damp enough to moisten the eater's fingers. The crusts of the bread are cut away cleanly and the sandwich sliced diagonally twice, creating four small triangular tea sandwiches.
The traditional cucumber sandwich is of British origin. Modern variants (largely of American origin) exist, involving cream cheese, chopped dill or spices, brown bread, salmon, and even bread with crusts left intact. One specific American variant includes benedictine, a green soft spread based on cucumbers and cream cheese.
Cucumber sandwiches are most often served for a light snack or at afternoon tea, a formal light meal served at four in the afternoon or early evening before the main supper. In addition, cucumber sandwiches are supposed to be served in the tea break at club cricket matches in England.
Because of cucumber's cooling nature, cucumber sandwiches are often eaten in the summer months or in warmer climates, such as in parts of India. Indian Airlines used to serve cucumber sandwiches as part of its usual vegetarian in flight meal in short-haul domestic flights.
Combination of potato chips and this cucumber chutney sandwich reminds me of movie nights in India. Yes !! Believe it or not they do serve this in the movie theaters. In Mumbai many street vendors sell these by road side.
I am going to give you three versions. First without taking the crust off the bread, another one is with toasted bread (this is how my husband likes it) and another fancy British version where the crusts of the bread are cut away cleanly and the sandwich sliced diagonally twice, creating four small triangular tea sandwiches. (well I was not that fancy, I just sliced it once to make two triangles as shown in pics)
This time I served it with spicy Kettle style Potato chips sprinkled with Cayenne Pepper powder and some left over Asparagus soup.
You will need following:
* You favorite bread slices. For myself I used sour dough bread slices as the taste of sourdough bread is closest to what I used to have in India, and for my husband who likes it toasted I used Italian bread slices.
* Coriander Chutney (recipe on this blog under condiment/sauce category)
* Butter or Cream cheese at room temp (for spread)
* 1 English cucumber thinly sliced
* 2 boiled potatoes and thinly sliced
* 2 Red ripe tomatoes thinly sliced
* 1 red onion thinly sliced
* 1/4 head of Lettuce diced (optional)
* Chat masala or just plain salt and pepper
For Chips you will need:
* Kettle style Potato chips with sea salt
* Cayenne pepper powder to taste
Method:
* Take two slices of bread.
* You can either toast the bread slices or just use them as they are or you can trim the crust off of them.
* Spread thin layer of butter or cream cheese on both slices.
* Spread layer of chutney on both slices.
* Place tomatoes, cucumber, potatoes, slices of onion and Lettuce if desired.
* Sprinkle pinch of chat masala or just plain salt and pepper on the veggies.
* Sandwich both slices together and cut in to two triangles.
Best thing about this sandwich is that it can be used as light snack, appetizer or light lunch. You can omit any of the ingredient, if you don't have Chutney you can just serve it like the English serve it: just with butter and cucumbers.
I sprinkled loads of cayenne pepper on Kettle style potato chips for accompaniment with this sandwich and served it to my family with left over Asparagus soup (recipe on this blog under soups) for a light lunch.
Recipe by Surekha adapted from many recipes from family, friends and my mom of course who I am going to see very soon and can't wait to show her my blog to her..............Love you mom and dad :)
More recipes later....in April, Bye for now, my dear readers, subscribers and followers !!
Cucumber Sandwich description source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cucumber_sandwich
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