Last year saw the advent of the avocado toast — a ridiculously simple dish, if you can call it that, of buttery avo mash on good quality bread, with a few simple embellishments. The dish took a turn for the sexy as Instagram exploded with more than a few pictures and idolised it as food for the lazy but luxurious millennial. The fancy toppings were what grabbed your attention — poached eggs, candied nuts, kimchi, bacon — the avo toast was a blank canvas; the trendiest thing since the hummus-ification of the West.
As someone in his late 20s who is not clueless in the kitchen, I feel avocado on toast doesn’t warrant a recipe, nor the overwhelming attention that it gets. It’s delicious, I will give it that; but don’t overlook a better, if not cheaper, open-face sandwich in the hot pursuit for Instagram stardom. Build a basic vegetable sandwich from the crust up, or take a page from the quintessential high tea menu and opt for hung curd, dill and cucumber sandwiches, but please, please get over #avotoast.
When friends complain about not knowing what to cook, I jokingly bring up my fridge-cleaner sandwich idea that started off as a way to work with ingredients that are sitting in the cold confines of the refrigerator for days going bad.
The toaster would pop and hot crusty bread would get smeared with mayo and topped with the most absurd things — dressed greens, balsamic, honey, tomatoes and olives, if I’m piling up last night’s salad, or mixed herbs, eggs and lime juice if I only have enough time to boil an egg.
What’s a good time to use that bottle of salad dressing someone gifted you, that’s been lying unused? Now. When’s a bomb time to test how hot your favourite bottle of chilli sauce is? Right now. You can use toast to show off in more ways than you know. Here’s a handy guide:
The bread
Breads like multigrain and sourdough aren’t limited to healthy avo toast. Slabs of these are hearty, and for snack times when you can just sneak in a few bites, you’ll stay full for longer. Nothing wrong with plain white bread or whole wheat, either. I am not ashamed to say that I think Bombay sandwiches taste better with plain white bread that comes out of a packet at your grocer’s.
- This one is a weird combination that really works. Spicy mint chutney, fruity, tart plums and creamy yoghurt come together in every bite to make this a super-satisfying toast.
- Ingredients
- 1 bunch fresh mint, plus extra to garnish
- 1-2 green chillies, depending on how spicy you want the chutney
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 tub hung curd
- A few slices of plums, fanned out on top
- A few slices of multigrain/sourdough bread
- Method
- In a food processor, blitz together all the ingredients for the chutney at the same time, till the consistency is smooth. Spread this chutney over the toast, followed by a thin layer of hung curd on top. Finish with the sliced plums and a few sprigs of mint.
Butter or olive oil?
Your toast must be satisfying at the end of the day, so don’t skimp on whatever fat you’re using to smear it with. I’m not happy with a super-thin layer of peanut butter on my toast, nor do I take kindly to garlic toasts drenched in olive oil. The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. Find it, but don’t settle for just dry toast. The buck doesn’t stop there. Use soft cheeses as a base for your toasts. Use a French-style cheese like Bombrie from The Spotted Cow Fromagerie as a base for your toast with golden apples and peppery greens.
The no-rule theory
Everything goes — from fruits to meats and vegetables, everything can feature as a topping. Examples of these are pears or figs with a drizzle of honey, leftover meats with grainy mustard and chopped pickles, or lush tomatoes, garlic and olive oil, seasoned with cracked black pepper to serve.
- In this recipe, I’ve pureed Goan choris sausages with butter to make a pâté that I top with garlicky mushrooms.
- Ingredients
- 200 gms Goan choris
- 2 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp Port wine
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 200 gms button mushrooms, stems trimmed and cut into slices
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, bashed in and chopped
- Salt and pepper to season
- 1 tbsp butter to finish
- A few slices of multigrain/sourdough bread to serve
- Method
- You can make the pâté in advance. It should keep well in the refrigerator while you go about your chores.
- To begin, take the sausage meat out of the choris casings and combine it with the paprika, butter, port wine and lemon juice in a processor. Blitz till it’s silky smooth and a spreadable consistency. Transfer to a container and refrigerate.
- In a frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Arrange the mushrooms in the oil, allowing room between the mushrooms and being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Do not stir. Let the mushrooms get some colour on them for four minutes before reducing the heat and adding in the garlic, salt, pepper and butter.
- Toss the slightly caramelised mushrooms through the butter and garlic till the garlic is golden. Take it off the heat. Spoon this over the pâté spread on toast and finish with herbs if you like.
Extra toppings
You can opt to add texture to your toasts with a sprinkle of lightly toasted nuts and/or seeds. Finishing with a bit of sea salt or a bit of lemon juice really helps bring out the flavour in a lot of things. Try salted strawberries with bitter greens or salted radishes with butter and lemon juice.
