Bombay Masala Chile Cheese Toasties

January 20, 2021

4.5

(13)

Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton

Melty, cheesy, crunchy, spicy—these sandwiches, a street food favorite in India, check all the boxes. There's a tender potato filling, crisp vegetables, and oozing cheese tucked between golden bread that's spread with an invigorating green chutney. To take this lunch really over the top (and way outside of tradition), wedge a few potato chips into the sandwich as you eat.

While green mango, coconut, and nuts are common chutney inclusions, I follow my mother and her friends by adding a tart green apple instead for sweetness and to help achieve a smooth-textured sauce. Use any leftover chutney for serving with samosas, in a plain grilled cheese, alongside pakoras, on an egg sandwich, swirled into a scramble, or with tamarind chutney for all manner of chaats.

Recipe information

Total Time
35 minutes
Yield
Makes 4

Ingredients

Hari chutney:

1 Granny Smith apple, cored, cut into large pieces

Juice of 1 lime

1 (1") piece ginger, peeled

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1 cup cilantro leaves with tender stems

¼ cup mint leaves

⅛ tsp. (or more) sugar

Kosher salt

1–2 green Indian, Thai, or serrano chiles

Filling and assembly:

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil or ghee

1 tsp. black mustard seeds

4 fresh curry leaves

1 tsp. cumin seeds

¼ tsp. ground coriander

¼ tsp. ground turmeric

A pinch of asafetida (optional)

1–2 green Indian, Thai, or serrano chiles, thinly sliced

1 large cooked russet potato, peeled

¼ tsp. kosher salt

½ cup chopped cilantro

1 tsp. chaat or sandwich masala (such as Spicewalla Chaat Masala or MDH Chunky Chat Masala)

8 (½"-thick) slices Pullman or other soft sandwich bread

1 small red onion, finely chopped

½ cup finely chopped green bell pepper or seeded plum tomatoes

8 oz. Monterey Jack or Emmenthal cheese, sliced, or 8 slices white American cheese

Room-temperature ghee or unsalted butter (for sandwiches)

Ketchup (for serving)

Preparation

Hari chutney:
Step 1
Purée apple, lime juice, ginger, garlic, cilantro, mint, sugar, a pinch of salt, and 1–2 chiles, depending on how spicy your chiles are and your heat preference, in a blender, scraping down sides and adding water by the tablespoonful, until a smooth paste forms. Taste and season with more salt or sugar if needed. (You should have about 1 cup, which is more than you’ll need for the sandwiches. Color will fade as it sits.)
Step 2
Do ahead: Chutney can be made 3 days ahead. Transfer to an airtight container; cover and chill.
Filling and assembly:
Step 3
Heat oil in a medium cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium. Add mustard seeds and cook until popping, about 30 seconds. Add curry leaves and cumin seeds. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until slightly darkened in color, about 1 minute. Stir in coriander, turmeric, asafetida (if using), and 1–2 chiles. Crumble potato into pan in large pieces and add salt. Cook, coarsely mashing and tossing potatoes to coat, until warmed through, about 2 minutes. Fold in cilantro and chaat masala. Transfer filling to a bowl. Wipe out pan and reserve.
Step 4
Arrange 4 slices of bread on a cutting board. Spread some chutney over each slice. Divide filling among slices and top with red onion, green pepper, then cheese. Spread 1 side of remaining 4 bread slices with more chutney and close up sandwiches. Spread ghee over outside of top slices of bread.
Step 5
Heat reserved pan over medium. Working in batches if needed, melt a small knob of ghee in pan, then arrange sandwiches, buttered side up, in pan. Cook until golden brown underneath, about 4 minutes. Turn over and cook, pressing down occasionally with the back of a spatula or the bottom of a saucepan, until cheese is melted and other side is golden brown, about 4 minutes.
Step 6
Serve toasties with extra chutney and ketchup alongside.
Step 7
Chef’s note: Sandwiches can be made in a panini or sandwich press as well, or ideally a toastie maker.

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Reviews (13)

Fun and delicious recipe although not really an easy weeknight dinner--took a very active hour from start to finish even using a large leftover baked russet potato (which was the perfect texture). The filling, the toppings, and especially the chutney were terrific. The chutney did make my homemade pullman bread a little soggy, will add less inside the sandwich next time and just add more on the side. Ketchup was surprisingly delicious with the toasties. It was a bit messy in the pan to fry them up, this recipe makes me want to buy a toastie maker!
- Michellers
- Los Angeles, CA
- 1/12/2024
I usually do my own thing when it comes to recipes, but I followed this one well and parboiled my potatoes. This was one of the best grilled cheeses I have had. I did add some olive oil to the chutney as it was a bit dry.
- Anonymous
- 2/17/2022
Curious as to how to cook the potato; bake or boil? Potato texture will be different depending on how its cooked and not sure which would be best for this sandwich.
- JulieMB
- Towson, MA
- 1/4/2022
These potatoes are so amazing that I made them again the next day, but just mixed in the onion, cilantro and tomato and ate it with the leftover chutney.
- Anonymous
- Austin, Texas
- 1/3/2022
Where in the world do I get curry leaves? What is sandwich masala, how is it different from regular masala and where do I get it? This recipe sounds really interesting and good, but there are ingredients I can't get without going to a lot of trouble. I start out making a chutney. Then I need a potato. Woops, I need to bake it first. No wonder the chutney can wait three days. Once I've cooked the crumbled baked potato in spices, put them aside and wiped out the pan, then I can assemble the sandwich. I see this repeatedly and erroneously classified as a simple recipe when it only is after one has obtained some difficult to find ingredients and done some considerable advanced prep. Haven't made it yet. Would like to though.
- Anonymous
- Utah
- 12/31/2021
Delicious. The chutney is so fresh and flavorful, great to use in its own right in all sorts of ways.
- lkmbs
- 4/27/2021
This is a very delicious and interesting Indian grilled cheese sandwich! I baked my own Pain de Mie bread just to try this recipe. For the cheese, I used fresh mozzarella because I had some I needed to use up. Because it is a bland yet very melty cheese it worked perfectly. The flavors of the Hari Chutney and the masala potato filling really shined. My chutney was very spicy from the Thai chili so I decided not to add another chili to the potato mixture which turned out to be a good call. I will definitely make this again. The curry leaves really add great flavor.
- lexi57
- San Diego
- 2/4/2021