Easy Cucumber and Eggplant Sandwich

'You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients '- Julia Child.

Good food, according to me, is one of the bare necessities of life. Slight exaggeration I agree :-). But hey,  foodie or not, we all crave for good, decent, home cooked food. For those of us who do not rejoice in slaving in the kitchen or spending too much time in preparing a meal, quick and easy recipes are so useful to have on hand. My younger sister, who is a doctor by profession, would enjoy a good meal anytime as long as she does not need to slog over it (or prepare it for that matter:-)).  Ditto with a lot of busy people I know.

For the love of  food and promoting the idea and joy of cooking, I would like to dedicate this section to my sisters, both busy professionals(but having foodie hubbies and kids) and to my teen aged nieces Divya and Deepti who are budding foodies. Hope you find the recipes useful and handy. Wish you a delightful and satisfying journey on the road to creating  simple gastronomic delights.  Lemme end my small speech and lets move on to the recipe I would like to share with you today.

Ingredients:
8 slices Whole Wheat Bread
1 English Cucumber, peeled and finely sliced. This variety works best as it does not contain too much of water.
A few slices of peeled and very finely sliced eggplant (of the slender long variety)
A few cloves of finely sliced garlic
3 - 4 teaspoons olive oil 
Oregano or any other Italian seasoning, I have used Oregano
Salt and crushed pepper to taste
1 teaspoon chilli flakes

Method: Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a non-stick pan, add the garlic slices and saute for a few seconds. Add the eggplant slices and saute again. Add the cucumber slices and salt. The eggplant slices should get cooked quickly without without becoming sticky as the slices are very thin. Cook for a minute further, retaining a slight crunch in the cucumber. Take off the fire. Season with chilli flakes and crushed pepper. Adjust salt if necessary.

Heat a non-stick tawa, grease lightly with oil. Once hot, reduce the flame to medium heat, place 4 bread slices on it . Put the vegetable filling on each slice. Top with another slice of bread. Flip carefully and cook on both sides, brushing with oil, till bread turns crisp and golden. Slice diagonally and serve hot.

Variation: Try substituting red and yellow peppers in place of the eggplant.
P.S  English Cucumber should be easily available at Namdhari's or Safal  outlets in Bangalore.