Sesame Toast Recipe

Vegetarian Sesame Toast is an Indo-Chinese dish inspired by the crispy, sesame coated toasts served in Hong Kong–style restaurants. This version uses a mixed vegetable topping spread on bread, coated with sesame seeds, and shallow fried until crisp. The texture is crunchy on the outside with a soft, savory vegetable layer inside. It works well as a starter or a snack.

About Sesame Toast

This sesame toast is made by topping bread with a spiced vegetable mixture and white sesame seeds, then shallow frying until golden and crisp. It is easy to prepare at home using basic vegetables and pantry ingredients.

I enjoy toast based recipes because they are quick to put together and don’t need much planning. They are useful when you want something filling without spending too much time cooking. This makes the recipe practical for busy days.

The combination of vegetables and sesame seeds adds crunch and flavor. It also makes the toast more flavorful than plain fried bread.

I have used carrot, potato, capsicum, and French beans here, but you can adjust the vegetables based on availability. The potato should be fully cooked, while the French beans and carrots are lightly cooked.

Capsicum and onions are used raw. You can also replace regular onions with green onions if you prefer. I also add some celery. It adds a nice flavor, but is optional. If you don’t have it, fresh coriander leaves or parsley leaves work well.

You can serve these toasts whole or cut them into smaller pieces for parties. They pair well with mocktails and other beverages. This sesame toast is also kid-friendly.

To save time, the vegetables can be prepped a day in advance and stored in the fridge. I have shallow fried the toasts, though deep frying is also an option. Fry on medium heat so the bread turns crisp without absorbing excess oil.

Make sure the vegetable mixture binds well with the cornstarch paste and sticks firmly to the bread. If it is loose, the topping may separate while frying.

I have used Brown Bread to make the dish slightly more wholesome. White Bread, Whole Wheat Bread, or multigrain bread also work. I haven’t tested this recipe in an oven yet, so I can’t say how it will turn out if baked.

More Easy Toast Variants To Try

• Paneer Toast
• Avocado Toast
• Cheese Chilli Toast
• Eggless French Toast

How to make Sesame Toast

Prepare Veg Filling

1. Boil 1 medium potato. Parboil 1 small to medium carrot and 8 to 10 French beans in a steamer or pressure cooker. You can also steam the veggies in an instant pot adding water as required.

I added everything in an electric steamer and removed the carrots and beans when they were half cooked.

2. Finely chop the parboiled carrots and beans. Also finely chop 1 small capsicum, 1 small piece of celery and 1 small to medium-sized onion. Peel and mash the potato as well.

3. Mix the mashed potatoes, finely chopped carrots, beans, capsicum, onions, celery in a bowl.

Also add the following ingredients:

• 1 inch finely chopped ginger
• 2 to 3 finely chopped small to medium-sized garlic cloves
• 1 finely copped green chili
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• ½ tablespoon soy sauce
• salt as required
• black pepper as required

Also make a separate paste of 3 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 to 3 tablespoons water in another bowl or cup.

4. Stir and mix really well. Let the mixture cool completely.

Make Sesame Toast

5. Cut 4 to 5 bread slices into rectangular, triangular, small shaped squares or even round shape with a biscuit cutter. Spread the prepared filling evenly. 

Press it lightly so that the filling sticks to the bread. You can also first spread cornflour paste on the bread and then spread the veggie filling.

6. Then, spread or brush the cornstarch paste on it.

7. Sprinkle white sesame seeds liberally over the cornstarch paste. Press lightly so that they don’t fall off.

8. Heat oil for shallow frying or deep frying. Slide the bread pieces in medium hot oil upside down and fry till golden.

9. Turn over carefully with a spatula and fry the other side.

10. Since bread absorbs a lot of oil, fry the bead pieces in medium hot oil till golden.

11. Place the Sesame Toast on kitchen paper towels to remove excess oil.

12. Serve sesame toast hot with Tomato Sauce or chilli sauce or schezwan sauce.

Expert Tips

1. In addition to the veggies that I have used in this recipe, you can add more like corn, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, etc. Just make sure to chop these finely and then add.
2. If you want to add more Indian flavors in the vegetable filling, then you can spice it up with ginger, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, black pepper powder, etc. Quantities can be adjusted according to the level of heat you prefer.
3. You can use any type of bread to make these toasts – white, whole wheat, brown, multigrain – all work well.
4. Opt to pan fry these sesame toasts with less oil if you prefer. While pan frying make sure the bread is toasted well and the sesame covered filling is crispy.
5. If you are deep frying these toasts, make sure to do that in medium hot oil. If fried oil which is not hot enough, then these savory toasts will become too oily as they will absorb more oil.

Step by Step Photo Guide Above

Sesame Toast Recipe

Author: Dassana Amit

4.67 from 12 votes

Vegetarian Sesame Toast is an Indo-Chinese snack made with bread slices topped with a spiced vegetable mixture and sesame seeds. The prepared toasts are shallow fried until crisp and golden. The texture is crunchy on the outside with a soft vegetable layer inside. It can be served as a snack or starter.

Print SaveSaved! Rate

Prep Time: 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings2

CourseBreakfast, Snacks

DietVegan

CuisineIndo Chinese

Ingredients

US CustomaryMetric

For veg filling

• ▢ ½ cup or 1 small to medium carrot – parboiled & finely chopped
• ▢ ¼ cup or 8 to 10 french beans – parboiled & finely chopped
• ▢ 1 medium potato – boiled or about ½ cup of mashed potato
• ▢ ¼ cup or 1 small capsicum – finely chopped (green bell pepper)
• ▢ ¼ cup or 1 small to medium onion – finely chopped
• ▢ 1 teaspoon celery – chopped, or use coriander leaves
• ▢ 1 green chilli – finely chopped
• ▢ 1 inch ginger – peeled and finely chopped
• ▢ 2 to 3 garlic cloves – small to medium-sized, peeled and finely chopped
• ▢ 1 tablespoon cornstarch (cornflour)
• ▢ ½ tablespoon soy sauce or as required, preferably use naturally fermented soy sauce
• ▢ 2 to 3 tablespoon white sesame seeds or as required
• ▢ salt as required
• ▢ black pepper as required

For the cornstarch paste

• ▢ 3 tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour)
• ▢ 2 to 3 tablespoons water

Other ingredients

• ▢ 4 to 5 slices bread – white bread, brown bread or whole wheat
• ▢ oil – as needed for shallow frying or deep frying

Instructions

Making filling

• Boil the potato and then mash it. Parboil the carrots and beans. Finely chop them also.
• Also finely chop the onions, capsicum, celery or coriander, ginger, garlic and green chili.
• In a bowl, mix the mashed potatoes, finely chopped carrot, beans, capsicum, onion, celery or coriander, ginger,garlic, green chili, cornstarch, soy sauce, salt and black pepper really well.
• Let this mixture cool completely.
• Mix and prepare the cornstarch paste by mixing the corn starch and water in a small bowl. Set aside.

Making sesame toast

• Cut the bread into rectangular or triangle or small shaped squares or even round shape with a cookie cutter.
• Spread the veggie filling evenly. Press it lightly so that the filling sticks to the bread.
• You can also first spread the cornflour paste on the bread and then spread the veggie filling.
• Then spread or brush the prepared cornflour paste on it. Sprinkle the sesame seeds liberally over the paste. Press lightly so that they don't fall off.
• Heat oil for shallow frying or deep frying. Slid the bread slices upside down with the filling side at the bottom, in medium hot oil.
• When this side gets browned, turn and cook the other side. You can flip once or twice to get a uniform golden color.
• Fry the bread slices till crisp golden. Place the fried bread slices on paper towels for extra oil
• Then slice them if you want & serve sesame toast hot with tomato sauce or chili sauce or schezwan sauce.

Dassana’s Notes

• You can also pan fry the toast with less oil if you prefer. But make sure that the cornstarch paste cooks well when pan-frying. There should be no rawness in it. 
• Recipe can be scaled to make a large batch of these sesame toasts for potlucks or small parties.

Nutrition

Calories: 602kcal | Carbohydrates: 79g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 19g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 1212mg | Potassium: 965mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 7129IU | Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): 0.5mg | Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): 0.3mg | Vitamin B3 (Niacin): 6mg | Vitamin B6: 1mg | Vitamin C: 110mg | Vitamin E: 10mg | Vitamin K: 24µg | Calcium: 207mg | Vitamin B9 (Folate): 126µg | Iron: 5mg | Magnesium: 103mg | Phosphorus: 249mg | Zinc: 2mg

Sesame Toast from the archives was first published on December 2013.