Tiranga Tea Sandwiches

Makes 8 tea sandwiches

India celebrates Independence Day on August 15^th.  It is a national holiday commemorating India’s freedom from the British Empire on August 15, 1947. The festivities include early morning parades, flag hoisting ceremonies and cultural events. People proudly display the flag on their cars, in homes and work places and wear the colors of the flag in their attire too. The day is celebrated with patriotic songs, watching patriotic movies and meeting friends and family. Here in America, Indian Americans also celebrate the day with parades and cultural events held in many cities across the United States.

Tiranga means tri-colored. The Indian flag is also reverently called Tiranga. This week I wanted to use the colors of the Indian flag in creating an easy to make, scrumptious fusion sandwich using green chutney, cream cheese and Swiss cheese with lettuce and grated carrots. Using store bought chutney makes these tea sandwiches a breeze to make at any time. I used white bread as I wanted it to represent the white color of the flag, but you can use any bread you like. Also, these type of sandwich rolls are sometimes shallow fried to give the bread a crispy texture. I decided to rely on the grated carrots and lettuce in this sandwich for a nice crunch and they did not disappoint. The freshness of the summer veggies really shines thru in these tea sandwiches, and their colors represent the orange and green colors in the flag.

Here are the Ingredients I used-

• 8 slices of white bread, with their crust cut off
• About 2 tablespoons plain whipped cream cheese mixed with sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 8 thin slices low sodium Swiss lacey cheese (about ¼ pound)
• Romaine lettuce leaves, washed and trimmed
• Store bought spicy green chutney such as the Bombay sandwich chutney
• 2 medium sized carrots, peeled and grated

Steps to make the sandwich-

1. On a damp kitchen towel, place 2 slices of bread slightly overlapping at one of the narrow edges. Roll the bread with a rolling pin, joining the two slices of bread.

   

   

   

   

   

   

2. Layer the next ingredients in the order given as shown in the pictures leaving a ½ inch border of the cream cheese at the end. The cream cheese at the edge helps seal the roll.
3. Roll the sandwich pressing the roll firmly as you roll, with the help of the damp towel. Trim edges, cut in two and serve.

These fresh tasting, cool and crunchy tea sandwiches are a treat with the afternoon cup of tea with friends!

Love,

Sandhya