The Awadhi cuisine of Northern India is an endless source of inspiration to executive chef Sanjay Gour. After working at Maze London, the Savoy Grill and Murano, Sanjay is now busy in the kitchen at Zaika of Kensington serving up creative, modern Indian food. Here we ask him to share his Club Sandwich with a twist

When I’m away from home in an unfamiliar hotel, a Club Sandwich is the ultimate comfort food. I’m even more likely to choose it if the menu is long and confusing because it’s a safe bet – 99.99 per cent of the time I know exactly what I’ll get.

I order Club Sandwiches pretty regularly when I’m travelling and have eaten them at hotels all over the world. The most unusual place was probably at a Holiday Inn in Chandigarh. It’s a city in Punjab, known for its rich northern Indian cuisine, but they still had it on the menu.

The key ingredient for a good Club Sandwich is the chicken. It needs to be prepared and cooked properly, otherwise it ends up dry and lacking flavour. When I worked at the Connaught Hotel in London I would always make sure the chicken and bacon were cooked freshly to order and that the salad leaves were really crisp.

My north Indian twist on the Club Sandwich is to make it with flavoursome tandoori chicken, a masala omelette and mint chutney.

Sanjay’s Indian Club Sandwich recipe

Ingredients

4 rashers of streaky bacon (ideally smoked)

3 slices of white bread

Mint chutney

4 tablespoons of cucumber raita

Handful of lettuce leaves

2 sun-dried tomatoes

2 eggs, scrambled with 2tsp of cumin, 2tsp ground coriander and 1tsp garam masala (spices pictured, above)

Tandoori chicken breast (deboned)

Method

1.  Heat a non-stick pan and fry the bacon, turning halfway through until crispy.

2.  Toast bread to nice golden-brown slices.

3.  Put mint chutney on one slice and spread cucumber raita on another.

4.  On the slice with the mint chutney, place lettuce, tomatoes, bacon and scrambled eggs.

5.  On the slice with the raita, place sliced chicken and lettuce.

6.  Stack them together and cut into quarters.

7.  Secure with cocktail sticks.

8.  Serve with chips.

What do you think of Sanjay’s recipe? Have you come across a better Club Sandwich on your travels? We’d like to hear about it!

Have an opinion on The Club that you’d like to share? Let us know

This article has been tagged Food + Drink, Culture