Masala Toastમસાલા ટોસ્ટ
Bread spread with chutney and spiced potato, covered in cheese and toasted in butter. It is the fastest thing on any Ahmedabad snack cart.
Ingredients
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- 6 slices of bread
- 2 boiled potatoes, mashed
- Green chutney
- 1 onion, 1 tomato, capsicum, thinly sliced
- 1 cup grated cheese
- Chaat masala, salt, butter
Method
- Season the mashed potato with salt and chaat masala.
- Butter the bread and spread green chutney over it.
- Layer the potato, then the onion, tomato and capsicum.
- Scatter cheese on top and dust with chaat masala.
- Toast in butter on a covered tawa for 5-6 minutes on low, until the cheese melts and the base is crisp.
Tips
- Covering the pan is what melts the cheese through.
- Keep the chutney thick or the bread goes soggy.
Storing and reheating
This is made and eaten at once. Within ten minutes moisture from the tomato and chutney soaks into the bread and the crisp base is gone. An assembled toast is not worth refrigerating. The potato filling keeps two days and the green chutney four or five days. A leftover toast can be crisped on a dry tawa; a microwave just makes it soggy.
What you can swap
- If you have no cheese, leave it out entirely. The plain Bombay-style toast of chutney, potato and vegetables is just as good. Grated paneer can stand in, though it will not melt.
- Use day-old bread rather than fresh soft slices. Fresh bread tears as you spread the chutney and takes up moisture much faster.
- No chaat masala? Mix a pinch of black salt, a pinch of roasted cumin powder and a squeeze of lemon. It gets close.
- For the green chutney, grind coriander, two green chillies, a pinch of salt and some lemon. Use as little water as possible and keep it thick.
What to serve with it
Breakfast, or a snack with evening tea, with ketchup and extra green chutney on the side and a dusting of chaat masala. At home this is mostly the quick fix for hungry children, and when guests turn up it gets cut hot off the tawa.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not lay tomato slices straight onto the chutney. Deseed them, or blot the slices on a cloth, or the middle of the bread stays wet.
- Slice the vegetables thin. Thick onion and capsicum stay raw and slide out of the toast as you bite. Paper-thin is what you want.
- Keep the filling and vegetables off the very edge of the bread. Anything at the edge spills cheese and chutney onto the tawa, where it burns.
- Do not press the toast down while the cheese is still cold. Cover it, let the cheese melt, and only then press gently. Pressing too early slides the layers apart.
Questions people ask
Why is my toast wet in the middle?
Either the chutney was thin or tomato juice got in. The chutney should be thick enough not to drip off a spoon, and the butter should go on under the chutney, where it acts as a barrier between the bread and the moisture.
Can I make this in a sandwich toaster?
You can, but you will not get the crisp base that a covered tawa gives. In a toaster, keep the filling thinner, otherwise the plates will not close and the cheese squeezes out. In a griller, crisp the underside on a tawa first.
What goes into the green chutney?
Coriander, green chillies, ginger, salt and lemon is enough. A spoon of roasted chana dal or peanuts helps it bind thick, which matters a great deal for a toast. Grind it with lemon juice rather than water.
