Vegetarian Monte Cristo Sandwich

Traditional Monte Cristo Sandwich uses ham and cheese as filling and they are dipped in egg wash. I tried to make a meatless version of it by substituting green peas in place of ham and a batter of besan, water and milk in place of egg.

Whole Grain Bread - 4 slices
Frozen Green Peas - 1/2 cup
Boiled Red Potato - 1/2 cup, coarsely mashed
Olive Oil - 1/2 tbsp
Onion - 2 tbsp, chopped (optional)
Green Chili - 2, chopped
Ginger - 1/2 tsp, grated
Roasted Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
Dried Mango / Aamchur powder - 1/2 tsp
Cheese Slice - 2
Salt
Besan / Chickpea Flour- 2 tsp
Whole Milk - 1 tbsp
Water
Butter - 1 tbsp

To make the filling, heat a skillet. Add the olive oil and immediately add chopped onion, ginger and green chillies. Cook till the onion starts to caramelise.

Now add the frozen peas, mashed potato, salt, roasted cumin powder, aamchur powder. Mix well and cook for around 5 minutes. Mash some of the peas with the back of the spoon so that the filling comes together. Leave aside to cool.

To make a thin batter, beat the besan, milk, water and a little salt together. Take one slice of bread and put it on a flat plate. Take a handful of the filling and press it on top of the bread . Top it with a slice of cheese and another slice of bread. Cut the sandwich into 4 equal squares. Similarly fill and cut the other 2 slices to make a total of 8 squares.

Heat a skillet and add a tsp of butter. Take one square of the bread and dip it carefully in the batter. Then put it on the hot skillet and cook till golden brown on all sides. Cook the other bread squares in the same way. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.