Bombay Sandwich Recipe

A Bombay Sandwich is a very delicious and popular street food available on the streets of Mumbai. You will find a vendor on every street of Mumbai being super busy in building a sandwich for someone hungry. Every vendor has an elaborate menu with plenty of choices to make the Bombay sandwich. You have the regular Bombay sandwich, vegetable grilled sandwich, Cheese grilled, aloo masala grilled and the list is endless!

Further you can also customize yours by choosing the vegetables, kind of bread, the amount of sandwich chutney, spice powder and even the amount of butter. You are actually spoilt for choice!

Of course, this humble sandwich is no longer confined to the streets of Mumbai but has firmly wedged itself in cafes, school, college & office canteens as well.

So What is in a Bombay Sandwich?

Buttered slice of white bread is slathered with a thick green sandwich chutney, then filled with sliced boiled potatoes, beets, cucumber, tomatoes & onions. A generous sprinkle of sandwich masala goes at the end, followed by another buttered & chutney smeared bread. Ta-da! Your basic Bombay sandwich is ready.

You have numerous options again, you may load your sandwich with some cheese & grill it to make a Vegetable Grilled Sandwich.

In this post I share with you an easiest and simple recipe to make Bombay sandwich. It barely takes 10 minutes to assemble if you have the coriander chutney & boiled potatoes & beets ready. There are no substitutes to this coriander chutney (sandwich chutney) and it is this what makes any Bombay sandwich delicious.

If you love to make these sandwiches often, you may make a big batch of the Coriander Chutney and refrigerate or freeze it.

However if you are looking for options to substitute the sandwich chutney, you may use this Green Chutney or Mint Chutney any other spread of your choice like cheese spread, hot sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise etc. I know all these options taste delicious too because I have made sandwiches that way a lot of times.

But it won’t be a Bombay sandwich because sandwich chutney is the hallmark of these sandwiches.

These sandwiches are best served immediately or as early as possible because the chutney gets into the bread soon and makes it too soft to handle.

What you need

Bread: The Street style basic Bombay sandwich is made with white bread. The soft and fluffy bread tastes super delicious here. You won’t get the same taste with wholegrain breads. However if you do not eat white bread just make it with multigrain or wholegrain bread or any other of choice like the way I made.

Coriander chutney is a spicy dip or chutney made by blending coriander leaves and spices. You can make the chutney ahead and refrigerate for several days in glass jar. I have shown how to make the chutney in this post But you are free to use this Green chutney if you have it. Bombay sandwiches are mostly made with coriander chutney and no mint leaves are added to it.

Vegetables: This recipe requires boiled potato and boiled beetroot. You may boil them whole in a pressure cooker or in a pot as per your convenience. We need fresh sliced vegetables like cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. You may replace the cucumber with zucchini.

Sandwich masala is a spice powder made with various spices. It is sprinkled while assembling the sandwiches. It is easily available in the Indian stores. If you do not find it substitute with chaat masala, black salt and roasted cumin powder.

More Sandwich Recipes
Grilled sandwich
Mushroom sandwich
Potato sandwich

How to Make Bombay Sandwich (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. Boil 1 medium potato and 1 beetroot (optional) in a pressure cooker or in a pot, until fork tender and not mushy. You have to boil them separately so your potato does not get discolored with beets. Later cool them, peel and slice them to 1/4 inch thickness. Also rinse and slice 1 onion, 1 cucumber, 1 tomato and if you like capsicum too. I haven’t used beetroot & capsicum here.

2. We need soft butter to make the sandwiches. So keep the butter out of the fridge.

3. While the potatoes boil, make the sandwich chutney. Rinse coriander leaves under running water. Drain completely and remove the roots and stalks. You may keep the tender stalks.

4. Add 1 cup coriander leaves to a grinder jar along with 1 tablespoon roasted peanuts or roasted chana dal or half bread slice, little salt, 2 pinches kala namak (optional), 1 to 2 green chilies and 1 garlic clove. I also love to add ½ teaspoon chaat masala & ½ teaspoon roasted cumin powder. Blend to a smooth chutney adding some lemon juice towards the end if you like. If you are unable to blend add a splash of water. The chutney must be thick and of spreading consistency. I use about 2 tablespoons water.

5. Do not make it runny as we don’t want the bread to get soggy. We don’t want a coarse chutney too. Taste test and adjust salt and spice. You can store this in a clean dry glass jar. Refrigerate and use up with in 3 to 4 days.

Make Bombay Sandwich

6. Remove the edges/crust from the bread.

7. Butter the bread generously on both the slices and smear some prepared chutney, as much as you like.

8. Layer potato slices and sprinkle some roasted cumin powder, chaat masala (or sandwich masala) & kala namak. Layer onions and repeat a sprinkle of spice powders.

8. Repeat a layer of tomatoes, followed by spice powders and then by cucumbers. Lastly sprinkle as much ground spices as you prefer.

9. Cover with another slice of bread.

10. Cut to quarters. Safe them with sandwich picks.

If you want you may dot them with chutney and ketchup. Serve Bombay sandwich immediately as they become soggy quickly.

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Recipe Card

Bombay Sandwich Recipe First published in July 2016. Updated and Republished in June 2022.