Chicken Club Sandwich

So, Bahrain was in news recently. It was voted as the BEST country to live for Expatriates (aka Expats). You can see the details of the survey here. To quote from the survey “The top-ranked country in 2017 is Bahrain, given high marks by its expats as a place to work and raise a family and for making foreigners feel welcome.”

I agree completely with that statement, there is a perfect work-life balance here and also the people are friendly and kind. If you like a well-balanced-life for everything, this is the place for you. There is nothing “over-the-top” about this place. It’s all balanced.

But, it wasn't the case when I first came here… Of course, Bahrain was still the same but I wasn't.

When I came here initially, for the first 5-6 months, I had a huge adjustment problem. I guess that happens when you come from the crazy hustle n bustle of any Indian city to a relatively calm and quiet place. Also, everyone around me were all strangers to me at that time!

For me, the friendly interaction with people around me, is a very important factor for my existence. I think if you’ve a connection with the people living around you, then that place makes you feel more welcome and it can make you feel at home.

Luckily, the people over here are very friendly and open and kind. Of course, there are exceptions, but the above statement holds true for the majority of them. Now, this place is “home” to me in every sense and I guess, it’s mostly because of the people who live in Bahrain.

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Now, coming to this recipe, there is a particular group of people who made it special for me. There is this small restaurant here in Bahrain, which is one of the oldest (from what I understand) and tucked away in the heart of the business district and they’re known for their sandwiches, especially, The Club Sandwich.

It’s a restaurant frequented mostly by the locals and expats during the evening hours and business folks during the day. But the staff there, barring one or two, are from Kerala.

Whenever we go there, the way they welcome us, it makes you feel like you are visiting one of your relative’s homes in Kerala. Sometimes, after going there, I feel like I just had a visit with one of our close family. They fuss over us, making sure we are eating well, asking about our well being and at times just like any relative, they also ask “too personal” questions ;) Also they share the news about their family left behind in Kerala.

They also ask about the blog and always make fun of me asking, ‘how come we see you here often, if you are supposedly cooking up a storm in your kitchen ;)’ Though, we go there for more than the food, their club sandwich is one of the best I have had so far. And that brings us to our recipe here.

Like I’ve said many times before, Bread is one of my fav food to eat and naturally sandwiches too. Luckily, Jose also shares my love for bread. So everytime, when we eat Club Sandwich from outside, he keeps asking me why I’m not making it at home.

So after years of him asking me, finally I decided I’ll give in and make it at home. The thing is… whenever we buy bread, it doesn't get past more than the “toast” stage. Both of us love crunchy toast smothered with salted butter.

I had some leftover chicken filling and that’s how I ended up making this. It’s an easy and simple recipe. You can make the chicken filling in advance and refrigerate for 2-3 days. The assembling of sandwich, hardly takes any time. It’s good as a breakfast, brunch, lunch or mid morning snack or whatever you want to call it. A side of chips or coleslaw makes it golden ;)

Hope you get to try this and love it too.

Here is the recipe…

Take one of the single sided mayo toast. Spread chicken filling on the mayo side. Make sure the filling is spread evenly. Top that with one of the double sided mayo toast. Press gently…

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Spread sliced cucumber and tomato on top of the second bread slice. Top it with remaining double sided mayo toast. Press gently…

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Slice the fried egg into four and place it on top of the third piece of toast. Cover the fried egg with the remaining single sided mayo toast. Press gently…

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Cut the sandwich into triangles using a serrated knife. Hold the sandwich together with a tooth pick or a wooden skewer…

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Please read the “notes” section before trying the recipe.

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Chicken Club Sandwich

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Course: Main

Servings: 1 -2

Author: Maria Jose Martin

Ingredients

• ▢ 4 Bread Slices (I used regular white bread)
• ▢ Chicken filling – 1/4 cup
• ▢ 1/2 of 1 small Cucumber (cut in rounds)
• ▢ 1 small Tomato (cut in rounds)
• ▢ 1-2 Fried egg
• ▢ 2-3 tbsp Mayonnaise
• ▢ 1 Cheese slice (optional (refer notes))

Instructions

• ▢
  Toast the bread slices and keep aside.
• ▢
  Apply mayo on one side for two pieces of toast (hereafter referred as single sided mayo toast) and on both sides for the other 2 pieces of toast (hereafter referred as double sided mayo toast).
• ▢
  Take one of the single sided mayo toast. Spread chicken filling on the mayo side. Make sure the filling is spread evenly. Top that with one of the double sided mayo toast. Press gently.
• ▢
  Spread sliced cucumber and tomato on top of the second bread slice. Top it with remaining double sided mayo toast. Press gently.
• ▢
  Slice the fried egg into four and place it on top of the third piece of toast. Cover the fried egg with the remaining single sided mayo toast. Press gently.
• ▢
  Cut the sandwich into triangles using a serrated knife. Hold the sandwich together with a tooth pick or a wooden skewer.

Notes

For a veg version, you can use this mushroom and spinach filling, instead of chicken.
If you are using cheese, place it on top of the fried egg. You can use any cheese slice like cheddar, gouda, swiss etc;
Also, if you prefer, you can toast the whole sandwich again in a sandwich maker, for another 2-3 mins. In that case, make sure to spread some butter on the other side of the single sided mayo toast.
It can be a meal for 1 or can be shared by 2, if having as a side.
You can make the chicken filling in advance and store in fridge for 2-3 days.
I used 1 whole egg and 1 egg white to make fried egg.
If you want to make it a super club sandwich, add some fried bacon pieces or roast beef slices to the sandwich. You can place the fried bacon or roast beef on top of the chicken filling.

Tried this recipe? Let others know by…mentioning @mariasmenu or tagging #mariasmenu

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