Looking for some fun ideas when children are home as there is no school to occupy their time amid coronavirus lockdown? Many parents are finding it difficult in keeping their children busy “avoiding boredom”. Offering them some gadgets every time to play is not the solution. Here is an interesting activity that may help you keep your child busy or engaged for some time in a productive way. Try involving them in making few easy sandwiches in your guidance and supervision. You can help them in chopping and grilling. Rest of the chores can be left to be done by them alone if they fall in the age group of eight and above.

Here are five simple sandwich recipes which are fun to make and yum to eat:

Garlic mayo – potato sandwich

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Bread slices: 8

Boiled potatoes: 3 (medium)

Onion: 1 (medium)

Garlic cloves: 4

Salt to taste

Oregano: 1.5 tsp

Red chilli flakes: 1.5 tsp

Garlic cheese mayonnaise: 6 tsp

Pizza-pasta sauce: 6 tsp

Butter as required

Method

Mash boiled potatoes with a potato masher. Chop onion and garlic cloves fine. Mix mashed potatoes, onion and garlic together. Add salt, oregano and red chilli flakes to potato mixture. Mix all ingredients well. Take two bread slices. On one bread piece, spread 1.5 teaspoon of garlic cheese mayonnaise and on another bread slice spread one and a half teaspoon of pizza-pasta sauce. Spread a thin layer of potato mixture on mayo slice evenly. Cover it with pizza-pasta sauce slice and apply butter on both the sides of the sandwich. Grill it in a griller or cook it on a non-stick pan until golden crisp from both the sides. One sandwich is ready. Cut it diagonally into two halves. Serve it hot and crisp with tomato Ketchup. You can prepare other three sandwiches like this.

Onion-Cheese sandwich

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Bread slices: 8

Onion: 2 (medium)

Cheese slices: 4

Black pepper powder: 1 tsp

Tomato ketchup: 6 tsp

Salt to taste

Butter to grill

Method

Chop onions finely. Take two bread slices. Spread one and a half teaspoon of tomato ketchup on one slice. Sprinkle a thin layer of finely chopped onion on the tomato slice. Sprinkle a dash of salt and black pepper powder. Place a cheese slice on the top. Cover it with another bread slice. Apply butter on both the sides of the sandwich. Grill it or cook it on a non-stick pan flipping from both sides until golden crisp. Serve hot with tomato sauce. One sandwich is ready. The other three sandwiches can be prepared in the same way.

Crumbled paneer sandwich

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Bread slices: 8

Paneer: 200 grams

Onion: 1 (medium)

Tomato: 1 (medium)

Chat masala: 1 tsp

Tomato ketchup: 6 tsp

Mint-coriander chutney: 6 tsp

Butter to grill

Method

Take two bread pieces. Apply one and a half teaspoon of tomato ketchup on one bread slice and one and a half teaspoon of mint-coriander chutney on another bread piece. Mash paneer and chop onion and tomato finely. Mix crumbled paneer and finely chopped onion and tomato together. Add chat masala and mix well. Spread this paneer mixture on the slice coated with tomato ketchup. Cover it with chutney slice. Apply butter on the outer sides of the sandwich and grill it. You can cook it crisp on a non-stick pan too. Cut diagonally and serve crisp and hot. Prepare all sandwiches in the same way.

Note: This sandwich can be served without grilling too. It tastes delicious when served raw as well.

Fruit sandwich

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Mango: 2

Kiwi: 3

Bread slices: 12

Fresh thick cream: 12 tsp

Method

Remove the corners of all bread slices. Take three bread slices. Apply one teaspoon cream on each bread slice. Cut thin slices of mango and kiwi after peeling them. Place a layer of mango slices liberally on one bread slice topped with cream. Cover it with another bread slice having cream on it. Top it with a layer of kiwi slices. Cover it with the third bread piece keeping the cream side overlapping the kiwi slices. Cut the sandwich diagonally into four parts. Serve soft and fresh.

Note: This sandwich tastes best when made with white bread. Bread should be soft and fresh. Mango and kiwi should be fully ripe and sweet but stiff. Cream should be used from the milk boiled and refrigerated overnight.

Bruschetta sandwich

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

Green capsicum: 8

Tight tomato: 8

Garlic: 4 tsp (finely chopped)

Salt: to taste

Oregano: 2 tsp

Pepper flakes: 2 tsp

Olive oil: 4 tbsp

Butter: to bake

French garlic bread loaf: 1

Method

Cut tomatoes into two halves and remove all the pulp. Discard the pulp. Cut the tomatoes into small pieces. Roast capsicums one by one directly on medium flame until their skin become black from all sides. Let the capsicums cool. Remove the outer burnt skin with the help of a knife. Cut these roasted capsicums into two halves and remove all the seeds. Discard the seeds. Cut all the capsicums into small pieces. Mix together chopped tomatoes, capsicum, garlic, salt, pepper flakes, oregano and olive oil. Mix well and chill in refrigerator for two to three hours. Cut French garlic bread loaf into slices of 1” thick. Apply butter on each slice and bake it crisp in oven. Apply a thin layer of chilled topping on every crisp slice and serve immediately.

Note: You can prepare the tomato-capsicum spread few hours in advance and keep it in refrigerator until used. However, bake the bread slices at the time of serving so that they can be served hot and crisp. You just have to top the baked slices with the refrigerated vegetable spread at the time of serving.

All these sandwiches can be made with whole grain, whole wheat, white or brown bread. You have to use French garlic loaf only for Bruschetta sandwich. All the breads you are using to prepare any of these sandwiches should be soft and fresh as the quality of these sandwiches depends on the quality of bread and other ingredients.

Making these delicious sandwiches for breakfast or snack time can be a great boredom buster activity. Encourage children to use their skills to decorate the sandwiches. It will turn out to be a major fun for your kids as well as you.