Grilled Bombay Sandwich Recipe

Without doubt, this Indian sandwich is the best new thing that I've learned about and made in a while. It's a tour de force of brilliant textures, colors, and flavors. And it's vegetarian! The Bombay sandwich caught my eye when I leafed through Mumbai Modern by Amisha Dodhia Gurbani. Like a club sandwich, it's a triple decker sandwich but filled with potato, beets, cucumber, tomato and onion all united by cilantro mint chutney, an aromatic mildly tart masala spice blend, butter and bit of melty cheese. It's absolutely delicious.

I'd read about cilantro green chutney spread atop buttered bread in Niloufer King's My Bombay Kitchen. It's one of Niloufer's favorite things to eat. I tried it last night with slices of homemade sandwich bread and it was divine. But I'd not known about the Bombay sandwich until Gurbani's book. Then I noticed a Mumbai Hoagie recipe in other cookbooks in my collections: Chaat by Maneet Chauhan and Jody Eddy and Indian Unfolded, by Raghavan Iyer.

What is a Bombay Sandwich?

Chauhan chararcterizes the sandwich as an ingenious combination of ingredients. It's is a unusual, perplexing at first glance, and easy to gobble up. Iyer and Gurbani write that the Bombay sandwich is a super common, popular street food in Mumbai. They describe it as something you find on practically every street corner. A signature dish of the city. Some sandwiches are grilled to a crisp and some are left un-grilled and soft. Bombay sandwiches may be served as small tea sandwiches, crusts trimmed. They're often enjoyed with ketchup and extra chutney. They may have a cloud of cheese shreds on top. The bread is usually soft white sandwich bread.

For extra context, here's a video of a very fast Bombay sandwich maker. He's cooking on what's also used to make croque monsieur. That is, a panini or grilled sandwich press. (You can, and I do, use a stovetop grill pan plus a cast iron skillet.)

One of Gurbani's favorite sandwich walas (vendor) built excellent triple decker Bombay sandwiches. Another near her university crafted sandwiches with a spiced potato filling (perhaps similar to what the above wala scoops up?). She pours her sandwich memories into the singular recipe in her book. I gave it a whirl, with a tiny tweak in how I cooked the beets and potato. The Bombay sandwich was eye popping fantastic. Two things are required for this exciting sandwich -- the Cilantro Mint Chutney and sandwich masala spice blend. The chutney recipe posted earlier is super easy to make and eat up. The other filling ingredients are pretty easy to prep.

Bombay Sandwich Masala

The spicy seasoning blend known as sandwich masala may be purchased at South Asian (Indian) markets but you may also make it from the recipe posted here, which is also from Gurbani's book. Mildly tangy amchur (aka amchoor), which is ground dried green mango, adds a bright lift to the masala. The black salt's slightly egg yolk-y quality actually allows the amchur to shine. When I replaced the black salt with fine sea salt, it muted the dried green mango.

Don't have amchur? Try sumac, which has a tang. Or, leave it out. In Iyer's book, he opts for toasted ground cumin, salt and cayenne. Gurbani's blend is more complex but you have to stretch yourself a bit. She says in lieu of the Sandwich Masala, you could use store-bought chaat masala. Scroll down for the masala recipe below.

Bombay Sandwich Assembly Video

You're not going to work at warp speed like the sandwich wala, but you should get the hang of how this sandwich recipe comes together. It may seems strong but mellows out in the sandwich to unify.

Bombay Sandwich Tweaks

As you've noted, there are many ways to fill this sandwich, so long as you have the basics: chutney and sandwich masala. I didn't have red onion so I used green onion. You could opt out of the cheese. It may be blasphemous to use wheat bread but my loaf was homemade and excellent. For a vegan take, use a dairy-free butter like Miyoko's cultured butter; I suppose oil would work too. Thinly sliced bell pepper or another mild, sweet pepper would go well in the sandwich. Opt out of the beets but they add minerality and sweetness, along with a solidity to pair with the potato well. Go for it.

Over 20 million people currently live in Mumbai. That's a lot of sandwich love going on each day of the year. It's no secret. The Bombay sandwich belongs in everyone's sandwich lover's repertoire. Gurbani's book should be in every curious cook's library.

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Print Recipe

Grilled Bombay Sandwich

One of the best sandwiches ever. This recipe makes large sandwiches that you serve cut into smaller pieces. It’s delicious. This recipe was slightly adapted from Amisha Gurbani’s Mumbai Modern (Countryman Press, 2021). Watch the video to get the hang of assembling the sandwiches.

Course: sandwich, Snack, street food

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Bombay sandwich, grilled veggie sandwich, vegetarian sandwich

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 medium (10 oz total) red or yellow beets, scrubbed and halved
• 2 medium (12 oz total) white or yellow potatoes, scrubbed
• 12 slices soft white or wheat sandwich bread
• 6 to 8 tablespoons salted butter, plus 4 tablespoons for grilling, at room temperature
• ½ cup Cilantro Mint Chutney, plus more to serve (see link in Notes)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons Sandwich Masala, recipe below, or chaat masala spice blend
• ⅔ cup melty cheese, such as Monterey Jack, Provolone, or a pizza blend
• 1 medium English, or 2 large Persian cucumbers, cut as scant ¼-inch-thick slices
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced, or ¾ cup sliced green onion
• 2 medium firm-ripe tomatoes, cut as scant ¼-inch-thick slices
• Ketchup, to serve

Instructions

• Pressure steam the beets and potato. Put 1 ½ cups water into a pressure cooker. Slide a steamer insert in, then add the beets and potatoes. Lock the lid in place and bring to high pressure. Lower the heat to steady cooking, then cook for 14 minutes. Let the cooker rest on a cool burner for 5 minutes. Release any residual pressure, then unlock. (Poke the beets with a knife tip to check doneness. If needed, cook for 3 to 5 minutes longer.) Transfer the veggies to a plate to cool.
• When the vegetables are cool enough to handle, rub off the beet skin. Slice the beets ¼-inch thick. Retain the potato skin for nutrients, if you like. Cut the potato just as thick as the beets.
• To assemble sandwiches, set out all the ingredients: beets, potato, bread, butter, chutney, sandwich masala, cheese, cucumber, onion, and tomato.
• For each sandwich, use 3 slices of bread, arranging them on your work surface, 3 cut sides facing up. Butter each of the 3 sides of bread facing you with a generous 1 teaspoon butter. Smear 1 ½ teaspoons chutney on top of each slice.
• On 1 piece of prepped bread, layer on ingredients as follows: potato, masala, beet, masala, and cheese. Set another piece of the prepped bread, buttered-chutneyed side down, on top. Smear about 1 teaspoon butter onto the plain side of bread now facing you. Add 1 ½ teaspoon chutney.
• Now layer on ingredients in this order: cucumber, masala, onion, masala, tomato, masala, and cheese. Cover with a third slice of prepped bread, butter-chutney side facing down. Repeat to make more triple decker sandwiches. Do it in an assembly line once you understand the order for layering the ingredients.
• To grill the Bombay sandwiches, heat a panini grill (or use a cast iron grill pan set over medium heat). Melt some butter on the grill, add the sandwiches (as many as the grill can fit). Butter the top sides of bread. Close the panini grill (or invert a cast-iron skillet if using a stovetop grill pan). Grill for 3 to 4 minutes, turning midway if using a grill pan, until crisp and brown on the outside.
• Use a thin metal spatula to transfer the sandwiches to a cooling rack. Repeat to cook the other sandwiches. Cool cooked sandwich for about 2 minutes, then use a bread knife to halve or quarter. Serve immediately with extra chutney and ketchup. Invite diners to spoon the condiments onto their sandwich portions.

Notes

Up to 4 days ahead, make the Cilantro Mint Chutney and prep the beets and potato; keep the cooked beets and potato whole and slice along with other ingredients to assemble sandwiches. 

Without a pressure cooker, roast the whole beets in foil for 1 hour; use a 400F oven. Boil the potato.  

Use gluten-free bread sandwich bread, if you like.

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Print Recipe

Sandwich Masala

Feel free to halve this recipe, but if you do, use a small skillet. This recipe was slightly adapted from Amisha Gurbani’s Mumbai Modern (Countryman Press, 2021).

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoon (4g) cumin seeds
• 16 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken into small pieces
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons (14g) fennel seeds
• 2 teaspoons (6g) amchur (dried mango powder)
• 1 tablespoon (16g) black salt, fine sea salt, or kosher salt

Instructions

• In a medium skillet over medium heat, toast the cumin, cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns, and fennel, stirring often for 3 minutes, until fragrant and slightly darkened. Remove from the heat and let cool completely.
• Transfer to a spice grinder (an electric coffee grinder) and ground into a fine powder. Transfer to a bowl or jar. Add the amchur and salt. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 year. Makes ½ cup.