The Bombay Sandwich packs a serious flavor punch. Soft white bread is slathered with an herby and tart chutney and then layered with crisp raw veggies, tender cooked potatoes, and zingy spiced red onion.
Sold from street carts on the bustling streets of Mumbai, this grilled sandwich is a fusion of spicy, sweet, and savory elements, offering a mouth-watering experience in every bite. It’s a standout Indian vegetarian recipe, showcasing the culinary traditions of Mumbai.
What Is a Bombay Sandwich?
In Mumbai’s bustling food scene, the Bombay Sandwich is an icon, sold from street stalls that each add their own twists to this vegetarian classic. The foundational elements stay mostly the same: Generously buttered bread, tender slices of potato, an array of vegetables, and the essential spread of flavorful chutney.
The layers often include fresh, crisp ingredients such as thinly sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, and often cheese for gooey richness and to hold it all together.
My Bombay Sandwich recipe uses a zesty Cilantro-Mint Chutney, enhancing the flavors with its herby and spicy profile. Thinly sliced red onions flavored with lemon juice and spices give the sandwich distinctive flavor.
Why You’ll Love This Dish
There’s something about the Bombay Sandwich that makes it totally irresistible. The magic is in the contrast of tender potato and crisp cucumber, the bite of seasoned red onions macerated in lemon juice and spices, the herby-tangy Cilantro Mint Chutney, and the indulgence of gooey melted cheese. A Bombay Sandwich is:
- Flavorful: It’s so much more than your typical grilled cheese sandwich. Each ingredient hits a flavor note and balances perfectly with the others.
- Customizable: Choose the bread and cheese that suits your palate, or leave the cheese out altogether. Add other vegetables like beetroot slices, thinly sliced fennel or radishes, or sliced green chilies.
- Hearty: It’s substantial enough to serve as a full meal.
- Vegetarian: There’s no meat in the sandwich, and it could even be made vegan by substituting vegan butter and cheese.
Ingredients You Need
The essence of the Bombay Sandwich lies in its carefully chosen ingredients, each adding a distinct taste that gives it an intense flavor profile that will have you craving it again and again. Here’s what you need:
- Potatoes: The star filling, boiled to perfection and sliced for layering.
- Kosher salt: Just a bit to season the water used to boil the potatoes and to season the onions.
- Red onion: Thinly sliced and tossed with spices, they’ll add a sharp, sweet-savory crunch.
- Lemon Juice: For a tart kick.
- Spices: Chaat masala, ground coriander powder, ground cumin powder, and Kashmiri chili powder give the sandwich a distinctive Indian flavor. You can substitute cayenne pepper for the Kashmiri chili powder if necessary.
- Soft sandwich bread: The bread that holds all these delicious flavors together should be soft and even slightly sweet. Country buttermilk or brioche gives the sandwich a buttery richness.
- Butter: Brings everything together with its golden, toasty goodness. You can use salted or unsalted and adjust the added salt in the recipe.
- Herb chutney: This condiment is essential to tying all the flavors together. You can make you can make your own Cilantro-Mint Chutney or buy a green chutney at an Indian market. You could also substitute Spicy Zhoug Sauce if you like.
- Cheese (optional): Melted cheese pulls the flavors and adds a gooey texture. Use a good melting cheese like Monterey jack, creamy fontina, sharp white cheddar, or mozzarella. Sharp white cheddar is my personal favorite.
- Tomato and cucumber: Fresh slices to add crunch and cut through the rich flavors. You can get creative with the veggie filling, too. Add steamed or roasted beets, pickled onions, sliced radishes, sliced jalapeño peppers, or other veggies.
How to Make It
The beauty of the Bombay Sandwich is in its layering, where each step builds up to that ultimate bite.
- Start by boiling the peeled potatoes with a pinch of salt until they’re tender. Then slice them about ⅛- to ¼-inch thick.
- Toss your thinly sliced onions with lemon juice, chaat masala, coriander, cumin, and chili powder.
- Butter up those bread slices and slather them with the cilantro-mint chutney.
- If you’re on team cheese, now’s the time to sprinkle it on.
- Arrange the potatoes, tomato, cucumber, and spiced onions on the bread, topping them with more cheese if you like.
- Close the sandwiches with another slice of bread, butter, and chutney side down.
- Fry them in a skillet or grill them in a grill pan with butter until each side is crisply golden and the cheese has melted.
- Slice each sandwich in half and serve hot, sprinkled with a little extra chaat masala for a final flavor hit.
What to serve with it
This iconic Indian street food is a marvel in itself, but it truly shines when paired with the right sides. A bowl of warming Indian Spiced Lentil Soup adds a comforting element, while a refreshing Kachumber Salad acts as a perfect palate cleanser.
In additiont to the cilantro chutney, you might also offer creamy, cooling Cucumber Raita or sweet, tangy Tamarind Chutney.
If you want to make it a larger meal, you could add Palak Paneer or Chana Aloo Masala to keep it vegetarian, or add Kerala Fish Curry.
Bombay Sandwiches
Ingredients
- For the potatoes
- 2 medium potatoes peeled
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- For the onions
- 1 small red onion thinly sliced
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon chaat masala plus additional for sprinkling
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder
- To assemble the sandwiches
- 8 slices of soft sandwich bread like country buttermilk bread or brioche
- 6 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- Cilantro-Mint Chutney
- 2 cups shredded cheese sharp white cheddar, Monterey jack, mozzarella, optional
- 1 large tomato thinly sliced
- 1 small cucumber thinly sliced
Instructions
- To make the potato filling, heat a pot of water with ½ teaspoon salt to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook until they are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and slice the potatoes about ¼-inch thick.
- To prepare the onions, in a medium bowl, toss the red onion, lemon juice, chaat masala, cumin, coriander, and chili powder together.
- To make the sandwiches, spread a generous layer of butter on one side of each of the bread slices. Spread Cilantro Mint Chutney on top of the butter.
- If using cheese, top half of the bread slices (butter and chutney side up) with some of the cheese.
- Next layer half of the bread slices with potatoes, tomato, cucumber, and some of the seasoned red onions. Top with the remaining cheese, if using.
- Add the remaining bread slices (topped with butter and chutney) on top (butter and chutney side down).
- Heat about 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the butter is melted and bubbling. Add the sandwiches (you’ll probably need to cook 2 or 3 at a time) to the skillet and cook for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, adding additional butter as needed, until the outsides are crisp and golden brown and the cheese, if using, is melted. Repeat with the remaining sandwiches.
- Remove the sandwiches from the pan, cut in half, and serve hot, sprinkled with more of the chaat masala.
Notes
You can use any soft sandwich bread, but for the best results we recommend country style buttermilk bread (make it at home or buy it at any supermarket), which is slightly sweet or a buttery brioche bread.
Thanks for highlighting this one, Juliana/Robin. The street food vendors in Mumbai also offer a strange concoction that they call “ketchup” but is actually made out of squash. To be more descriptive, you would call it “kaddu ketchup”. It goes very well slathered on on slice while the other is slathered with cilantro chutney.
Someday I plan to try that out at home; if I do, I’ll let you know!
You might like to check out my other recipes here: https://theoddpantry.com.