Low-Calorie Yogurt Sandwiches

Over the years I have seen food change as never before.Being born in the 80’s I am seeing a paradigmatic shift in the perception of how food is consumed.What was “nutritious” during my infancy is now regarded as a “high-calorie” and a “no-no” diet filled with taboo.I remember when I was small whenever we used to go to a party there would be puris,chole(chickpeas),pulaos – rich with saffron,paneer,lots of sweets and ice cream and tempting snacks
From these snacks the best I loved was Bread Rolls – a very tasty snack of normal bread filled with a spicy potato filling.We used to buy normal white bread which later was criticized for being “refined”.Then came the “brown” version of whole wheat which was again kicked off as being “colored” with caramel color and ultimately which was replaced by “Multigrain Bread” what is mostly used today.Its good – I do not say no,but for people who diet,or are losing weight/want to lose weight they still face an issue.That issue is OK..I have multigrain bread..but what do you fill INSIDE?Butter,Mayo,Jam,Cheese/Cheese Spread….which is going to give you DOUBLE the amount of calories?

The fact is whatever you eat you have to see the calories as you go along.I am here to help you with this.The following is a recipe,so versatile – you can make it veg/non veg,and very tasty without even a DROP of oil.
Yogurt as we all know is Probiotic in nature – aids digestion,gives a lovely radiance to skin,is light to eat and what is more can be used as a delicious bread spread.
I have followed Nita Mehta’s base for the yogurt,but made my own spread.
You need to have 1 cup of fresh thick yogurt.Take a pan and put a flour sieve or soup strainer over it.On the sieve lay a cheesecloth and spoon the yogurt over the cloth.As the yogurt is thick in course of time the whey water will drain out through the sieve into the pan and you will be left with a lovely,creamy yogurt cheese which will be used in the following recipe!

Preparation time – 15 minutes(Yogurt Cheese making time not included)
Makes – 3-4 sandwiches(depending on the size of the bread)

INGREDIENTS

For the spread:

1/2 cup fresh yogurt cheese
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp mustard sauce
A slice of red bell pepper
A slice of yellow bell pepper
1 tomato – halved
1 carrot

For the sandwich:

6-8 slices multigrain bread(do not cut the crusts if possible-they will be nutritious)

Method

The peppers,tomato and carrot are a very tasty combination.

Chop peppers and tomato very finely into approximately the same cubes.Try and make mini cubes.If you cannot do this by hand try using a food chopper.Remember the smaller the cubes the better.Or they will look awkward between 2 slices of bread!

Grate the carrot very finely.Now invert the cloth with the drained yogurt cheese into a bowl.

Add the salt,pepper and mustard. Blend very well to get everything mixed nicely.Now add the assorted vegetables.Mix again so that the vegetables blend smoothly into the Yogurt Cheese.

Take the slices of bread.Spread one slice with 1 tbsp of the yogurt cheese spread.Put another slice over it.
Heat a griddle on high heat for 2 minutes then reduce to low heat.Put the sandwich on the griddle(do not add any oil/butter/fat here).Let it brown one side.It will take approx of 2-3 minutes.Then turn over and brown the other side.Cut the sandwich diagonally into 2.Make the other sandwiches the same way.

Serve with any tomato sauce or chutney.I love mine plain as the flavor of the yogurt is too good for an accompaniment!!

P.S

1.The Yogurt Cheese is quite thick and sticky.So it makes the other bread slice stick tightly to the other.Viola..you have a sandwich which does not come apart!!

2.Instead of the vegetables which I used non-vegetarians can use salted,boiled,chopped chicken,cooked fish or even leftover keema to the yogurt cheese.But then the nutritional value will decrease and you may have a high-calorie sandwich!

3.For children only assorted fruits can be used to make the sandwich interesting!

4.For adults if you want more spice a tbsp of Tobasco Sauce can be added.I tried experimenting with Thai Sweet and Spicy sauce.It turned out fab!!

5.For people who love bacon,you may add rendered bacon(cooked in its own fat until crisp) chopped into mini cubes to the yogurt mix.However this will also provide bountiful calories and the “low-cal” concept would not apply here!