The masala cheese toastie, our way

A masala toastie takes the comfort of a cheese toastie and adds the brightness of a chaat: sharp red onion, fresh green chilli, coriander and a little chaat masala. It's quick, cheap and very hard to stop at one.

In our house it isn't really a recipe. It's what happens when the fridge has half a block of Cheddar, a lonely red onion and a bag of chillies going wrinkly, and neither of us can face washing up a pot. It's also the snack that ends most of our arguments, mainly because it's hard to keep making a point with your mouth full of molten cheese.

Where ours comes from

Neither of us grew up with a toastie maker that worked properly. S's family had a triangle-plate machine that sealed the edges so tightly the filling turned into lava, and every child in the house learned the hard way not to bite the corner first. T's mum didn't trust the thing at all. She made hers in a frying pan with a heavy saucepan sat on top as a press, and she put chilli in everything, toast included, because as far as she was concerned plain cheese on bread wasn't really cooking.

So when we started cooking together, the masala toastie was already half-settled. T brought the frying pan and the chilli. S brought an unreasonable interest in why the middle never melted before the outside burnt. Between the two of us it took a frankly embarrassing number of Sunday nights to land on the version below.

What makes it work

• A good melting cheese, grated rather than sliced, so it melts evenly. We use mostly mature Cheddar for flavour with a bit of mozzarella for stretch.
• Very finely chopped onion and chilli, so every bite gets some and nothing slides out.
• Mixing the filling in a bowl first, so the onion, chilli and coriander are spread through the cheese rather than sitting in a damp layer.
• Low-to-medium heat and patience, so the bread browns while the middle melts.
• A tiny pinch of chaat masala on the outside right at the end. It's salty, sour and a bit funky, and it's what makes people ask what you've done.

That last point was T's idea, and S held out against it for an embarrassingly long time. Chaat masala has black salt in it, which smells faintly of boiled eggs straight out of the jar. On hot buttery toast, though, it tastes like the bit of a samosa chaat you fight over. Now it lives next to the hob.

The things we got wrong first

For a long time the onion went in sliced into rings, because that's how you'd do it for a salad. It steamed inside the sandwich, went limp and pulled the whole filling out with the first bite, like a magician's handkerchief. Chopping it as small as you can bear fixes it completely. Five minutes on a board and you'll never go back.

Then there was the heat. S's instinct with any pan is to turn it up and stand over it, and the result was toast that looked brilliant and a cold, waxy slab of cheese in the middle. A medium-low flame and a lid over the pan for the first side made the biggest difference of anything we tried. The trapped heat melts the cheese while the bread takes its time going golden.

We also had a brief phase of spreading mayonnaise on the outside instead of butter, which you'll see suggested all over the place. It does brown beautifully and evenly. T thought it tasted faintly of a petrol-station sandwich. S quite liked it. Butter won on a technicality, which is that we always have butter and we don't always have mayo.

Ingredients (makes 2 toasties)

• 4 slices of white bread from a bloomer or a thick-sliced loaf, about 1.5cm thick
• 100g mature Cheddar, grated
• 40g low-moisture mozzarella (the block kind, not the ball in water), grated
• ½ small red onion (about 30g), very finely chopped
• 1 green chilli, very finely chopped (deseed it for a milder heat, or use 2 if you're T)
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander, leaves and soft stalks
• ¼ tsp chaat masala, plus a pinch to finish
• A pinch of Kashmiri chilli powder (optional, mostly for colour)
• 20g butter, softened
• 2 tsp green chutney or coriander chutney (optional, see below)

Method

1. Make the filling. In a bowl, mix the Cheddar, mozzarella, red onion, green chilli, coriander, ¼ tsp chaat masala and the Kashmiri chilli powder, if using. Squash it together with a fork so it clumps a little.
2. Butter the bread. Spread the softened butter thinly on one side of each slice, right to the edges. If you're using green chutney, spread a thin layer on the unbuttered side of two of the slices.
3. Build. Lay two slices butter side down on a board. Pile half the filling onto each and spread it almost to the crust, then press it down lightly. Top with the other slices, butter side up.
4. Cook the first side. Put a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-low heat for a minute. Add the toasties, cover the pan with a lid or a large plate, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the underside is deep golden and the cheese has started to melt.
5. Flip and press. Turn them carefully with a wide spatula. Cook uncovered for another 3 minutes, pressing down gently now and then, until the second side is golden and the cheese is oozing at the edges.
6. Rest and finish. Lift onto a board, sprinkle a tiny pinch of chaat masala over the top, and leave for 1 minute before cutting in half. The middle will be extremely hot.

The green chutney question

A thin smear of coriander chutney inside the bread is optional, and it's where we still disagree. T says it turns the toastie into something closer to a Bombay sandwich, fresher and greener, and would add it every time. S says it makes the bread slightly damp and it's already got coriander in it. We tested it side by side on one very full Saturday lunch and both of us were right, which helped nobody. Use a shop-bought one or whatever's in the fridge. If it's runny, use less.

Making it your own

• Leftover aloo. A couple of spoonfuls of spiced, mashed potato from last night's curry under the cheese makes it a proper meal. Make sure leftovers were cooled and refrigerated within a couple of hours of cooking, and only reheat them once.
• Paneer. Swap the mozzarella for 40g finely grated paneer. It won't stretch, but it goes soft and milky.
• Tomato. A few thin slices of tomato, patted very dry, add sweetness. Wet tomato is the fastest route to a soggy toastie.
• Sandwich toaster. It works. Use slightly less filling so it doesn't escape, and let it rest a full minute before anyone goes near it.
• Milder for kids. Leave out the chilli, keep the onion and coriander, and put a jar of chilli flakes on the table for the grown-ups.

Our nephews call the mild version "the green one" and eat it with ketchup, which T has decided not to fight.

Keeping it safe

• Melted cheese holds its heat far longer than the bread suggests. Rest the toastie for a minute and warn children before they bite.
• Keep the handle of the pan turned in and use a wide spatula to flip. Pressing hard on a hot toastie can squirt molten cheese.
• Eat it straight away. If you mix the filling ahead, cover it and keep it in the fridge, then use it within a day.
• Don't leave a made toastie sitting out for hours and reheat it later. It's quick enough to make fresh.

Would we make it again?

We made it again on Tuesday. It's the snack we turn to after a late train back from a family wedding in East London, when everyone's still in their good clothes and nobody wants biryani at midnight. It's also the thing S makes when T has had a rough day at work, which T says is the only time S follows the recipe exactly.

Cook it with Jan

Want to make masala cheese toastie tonight? Jan will scale it for your crowd and walk you through every step.

Let's cook!

• Desi twist
• Cheese toastie
• Snack
• Vegetarian
• Quick lunch