Dahi Toast

By JDARK

Ingredients

• For Dahi Toast:
• ¼ cup olive oil, plus more
• for cooking the toast
• 1½ tsp black mustard seeds
• 3 sprigs fresh curry leaves,
• stripped (24 to 30 leaves)
• 1 cup low-fat plain Greek
• yogurt
• 1 medium red onion, finely
• diced
• ½ cup finely chopped fresh
• cilantro (stems and leaves)
• 2 small Indian green chiles
• or serrano chiles, finely
• chopped
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ½ tsp freshly ground black
• pepper
• Pinch of red chile powder
• 12 large slices of white
• sourdough bread
• Ketchup, for serving
• For Cilantro Chutney:
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro,
• preferably organic,
• stems and leaves roughly
• chopped (about 4 cups)
• 1 small Indian green chile
• or serrano chile, roughly
• chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice,
• from about 1 lime, plus
• more if needed
• ¼ tsp granulated sugar
• ¾ tsp kosher salt, plus
• more if needed

Details

Level of difficulty Average
Cost Average budget

Preparation

Step 1

For Dahi Toast:
In a butter warmer or a small pan over low heat, warm the oil.
Once the oil is warm but not super hot, add the black mustard seeds. As soon as they begin to pop and dance around in the oil, which should be within seconds, remove the pan from the heat.
Add the curry leaves making sure they get fully coated in the oil (there may be more popping and splattering, and that’s okay!) The leaves should immediately crisp up in the residual heat. Set aside.

Step 2

In a small bowl, mix together the yogurt, onion, cilantro, green chiles, salt, black pepper, and red chile powder.

Step 3

Spread the yogurt mixture over 6 slices of the bread and top with the remaining slices to make 6 sandwiches.
In a large pan over medium heat, warm 1 teaspoon of oil. Once the oil begins to shimmer, reduce the heat to low and add as many sandwiches as will fit in the pan.

Step 4

Cook until the undersides are crisp and lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes, then flip them, add another teaspoon of oil to the pan, and cook until the other side is crisp and slightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes more.
Transfer the sandwiches to a platter and repeat to cook the remaining sandwiches.

Step 5

Divide the spiced oil mixture evenly over the top of the sandwiches.
Cut each sandwich in half and serve immediately with a side of ketchup and/or chutney, if desired.

Step 6

For Cilantro Chutney:
In a blender, combine all the ingredients and blend until smooth.
If the mixture is too thick to blend, add a few drops of water to get it going.
Taste and adjust the salt and/or lime juice, if needed. This chutney keeps, refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.