A hearty grilled lettuce sourdough sandwich packed with lettuce, cheese and tomato, born from an attempt to get reluctant parents to eat more greens.

Remember those childhood days when parents came up with innovative ways to make you eat those dreaded greens? There’s been a role reversal at home, where I now have to find ways to get the parents to eat “foreign” vegetables — namely lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, and other vegetables they didn’t grow up with.

I get the reluctance, I really do. But as I keep reminding them, “You’ve got to eat your greens.” #Payback

With lettuce, I started with the tried-and-tested salad route, which worked brilliantly for my father. He loves salad. My mother? Not so much. She was, and continues to be, reluctant.

Determined to get her to eat it, I began tweaking a few recipes and, voila! She ate the lettuce-loaded food, and I ended up with what I’m now calling the Lettuce Series, starting with the Lettuce Sourdough-wich.

The parents have developed a taste for sourdoughs, and since all three of us love pan-grilled sandwiches, I snuck a few leaves into our breakfast sandwich one day, and, to my delight, oh delight! It’s hearty, tasty and that golden crunch when you bite in… mmmmm.

You can use vegetables other than tomato here, but there’s something pure and nostalgic about the combination of bread + cheese + tomato that I adore. Just one thing to remember: these sourdough-wiches (sandwich… sourdough-wich… you get the drift) are pretty filling. In fact, I ended up skipping lunch altogether and settled for supper and a late-night snack instead.

Things to remember

• You can use vegetables of choice, but as I’ve mentioned, tomato and cheese are pure nostalgia and classic.  
• If the idea of pan grilling terrifies you, pop the sourdough-wich into a sandwich maker – whatever makes life easier!

A lettuce and cheese-loaded sourdough sandwich that’s a tasty, filling way to start the day

Remember those childhood days when the parents used to come up with innovative ways to make you eat those dreaded greens? There’s a role reversal situation on that front at home here, where I have to find ways to make the parents eat ‘foreign’ vegetables, namely non-Indian veggies or those they haven’t grown up with aka lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, etc. I get the reluctance, I do. But as I tell them, “You got to eat your greens.” #payback

With lettuce, I started with the tried and tested salad route which worked well for my father – he loves salad. But my mother? Nope. She was and continues to be reluctant. And because I was determined to get her to eat them, I tweaked a few recipes, and voila! She ate the lettuce-loaded food and I got what I’m dubbing the ‘Lettuce Series’, starting with the Lettuce Sourdough-wich.

The parents have developed a taste for sourdoughs and since all three of us love pan-grilled sandwiches, I snuck in a few leaves in our breakfast sandwich one day and delight oh delight! It’s hearty, tasty, and has that golden crunch when you bite in… mmmmm.

You can use vegetables other than tomato here but there’s something pure and nostalgic about the combination of bread+cheese+tomato that I adore. Just one thing to remember, these sourdough-wiches (sandwich – sourdough-wich… get the drift?) are pretty heavy on the stomach so ended up skipping lunch and had supper and a late-night snack.

Things to remember

• You can use vegetables of choice but as I’ve mentioned, tomato and cheese is pure nostalgia and classic.  
• If the idea of pan grilling terrifies you, pop the sourdough-wich into a sandwich maker – whatever makes life easier!

Do let me know if you try this recipe! Leave a comment and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram at from.the.corner.table and hashtag it #fromthecornertable. I’d love to see it

For regular updates on recipes, recommendations on things to read and watch and ramblings that make sense, subscribe to the newsletter – you’ll find the form in the sidebar if viewing on a screen and at the bottom if viewing on the phone. Since spamming or flooding your inbox is a huge no for me, these newsletters go out only when I’ve put up a new post or sometimes, once in a month only.

This apple chutney flavoured with butter and star anise is perfect as a dip, a spread and an ideal addition to your grazing plate for parties

Not every kitchen experiment is a success. But it isn’t necessary that the ‘not success’ dish is unpalatable. In fact, some of these end up being delightful, tasty surprises, like this apple chutney.

Inspired by a friend’s superwoman-like ability to make relishes, I’d set out to make an apple relish but with the wrong core ingredient – the apples I’d picked (or rather, found piled on the fruit tray) had a strange texture. Rather than being crisp and crunchy, they were of a soft, brittle variety that started to crumble when peeled. But hey, no one called me a quitter! I forged ahead, determined to make something out of the apples I’d peeled to the tune of Kishore Kumar’s ‘Mere saamne wali khidki mein’ – please note, tunes are important during the act of peeling because ‘good mood is important to make ‘good food’!

The mini mound of roughly chopped apples ready to be dealt with, I reached for butter, because darlings, irrespective of what it does to your arteries and your hips, it makes the world right. In went all the goodies into the pan and with a little bit of this and that thrown in, I had this apple chutney which eventually got a huge thumbs up from the parents. It has now been made twice, is being used to slather on butter-toasted sourdoughs sprinkled with sumac powder or smoked cheese shavings. It is also being used generously on rotis and parathas to make rolls for the instant hunger moments.

NOTE: If you aren’t in a rush, then let the apple chutney rest for a day. It tastes so much more deliciouser the next day.

Give it a shot and stick around for when I get the apple relish right! Until then, happy cooking.

Do let me know if you try this recipe! Leave a comment and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram at from.the.corner.table and hashtag it #fromthecornertable. I’d love to see it

For regular updates on recipes, recommendations on things to read and watch and ramblings that make sense, subscribe to the newsletter – you’ll find the form in the sidebar if viewing on a screen and at the bottom if viewing on the phone. Since spamming or flooding your inbox is a huge no for me, these newsletters go out only when I’ve put up a new post or sometimes, once in a month only.

A lettuce and cheese-loaded sourdough sandwich that’s a tasty, filling way to start the day

Remember those childhood days when the parents used to come up with innovative ways to make you eat those dreaded greens? There’s a role reversal situation on that front at home here, where I have to find ways to make the parents eat ‘foreign’ vegetables, namely non-Indian veggies or those they haven’t grown up with aka lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, etc. I get the reluctance, I do. But as I tell them, “You got to eat your greens.” #payback

With lettuce, I started with the tried and tested salad route which worked well for my father – he loves salad. But my mother? Nope. She was and continues to be reluctant. And because I was determined to get her to eat them, I tweaked a few recipes, and voila! She ate the lettuce-loaded food and I got what I’m dubbing the ‘Lettuce Series’, starting with the Lettuce Sourdough-wich.

The parents have developed a taste for sourdoughs and since all three of us love pan-grilled sandwiches, I snuck in a few leaves in our breakfast sandwich one day and delight oh delight! It’s hearty, tasty, and has that golden crunch when you bite in… mmmmm.

You can use vegetables other than tomato here but there’s something pure and nostalgic about the combination of bread+cheese+tomato that I adore. Just one thing to remember, these sourdough-wiches (sandwich – sourdough-wich… get the drift?) are pretty heavy on the stomach so ended up skipping lunch and had supper and a late-night snack.

Things to remember

• You can use vegetables of choice but as I’ve mentioned, tomato and cheese is pure nostalgia and classic.  
• If the idea of pan grilling terrifies you, pop the sourdough-wich into a sandwich maker – whatever makes life easier!

Do let me know if you try this recipe! Leave a comment and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram at from.the.corner.table and hashtag it #fromthecornertable. I’d love to see it

For regular updates on recipes, recommendations on things to read and watch and ramblings that make sense, subscribe to the newsletter – you’ll find the form in the sidebar if viewing on a screen and at the bottom if viewing on the phone. Since spamming or flooding your inbox is a huge no for me, these newsletters go out only when I’ve put up a new post or sometimes, once in a month only.

This apple chutney flavoured with butter and star anise is perfect as a dip, a spread and an ideal addition to your grazing plate for parties

Not every kitchen experiment is a success. But it isn’t necessary that the ‘not success’ dish is unpalatable. In fact, some of these end up being delightful, tasty surprises, like this apple chutney.

Inspired by a friend’s superwoman-like ability to make relishes, I’d set out to make an apple relish but with the wrong core ingredient – the apples I’d picked (or rather, found piled on the fruit tray) had a strange texture. Rather than being crisp and crunchy, they were of a soft, brittle variety that started to crumble when peeled. But hey, no one called me a quitter! I forged ahead, determined to make something out of the apples I’d peeled to the tune of Kishore Kumar’s ‘Mere saamne wali khidki mein’ – please note, tunes are important during the act of peeling because ‘good mood is important to make ‘good food’!

The mini mound of roughly chopped apples ready to be dealt with, I reached for butter, because darlings, irrespective of what it does to your arteries and your hips, it makes the world right. In went all the goodies into the pan and with a little bit of this and that thrown in, I had this apple chutney which eventually got a huge thumbs up from the parents. It has now been made twice, is being used to slather on butter-toasted sourdoughs sprinkled with sumac powder or smoked cheese shavings. It is also being used generously on rotis and parathas to make rolls for the instant hunger moments.

NOTE: If you aren’t in a rush, then let the apple chutney rest for a day. It tastes so much more deliciouser the next day.

Give it a shot and stick around for when I get the apple relish right! Until then, happy cooking.

Do let me know if you try this recipe! Leave a comment and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram at from.the.corner.table and hashtag it #fromthecornertable. I’d love to see it

For regular updates on recipes, recommendations on things to read and watch and ramblings that make sense, subscribe to the newsletter – you’ll find the form in the sidebar if viewing on a screen and at the bottom if viewing on the phone. Since spamming or flooding your inbox is a huge no for me, these newsletters go out only when I’ve put up a new post or sometimes, once in a month only.

This apple chutney flavoured with butter and star anise is perfect as a dip, a spread and an ideal addition to your grazing plate for parties Not every kitchen experiment is a success. But it isn’t necessary that the ‘not success’ dish is unpalatable. In fact, some of these end up being delightful, tasty surprises, like this apple chutney. Inspired…