Viral social media food hacks demonstrate how easy, fuss-free and fun cooking can be. They are usually spin-offs of a recipe, or a twist on a dish in a way that you wouldn’t have imagined. One such TikTok recipe is the chopped sandwich. Don’t be misled by the name: you don’t chop the whole sandwich, just the filling. It’s a mishmash of greens, cheese and col cuts with mayo, red wine, vinegar and olive oil. It’s a social media take and a chopped version of Italian hoagies which are large subway sandwiches loaded with veggies, cheese and meat.
For the ingredients, think Italian cold cuts, spices and cheeses: pepperoncini (hot chilli peppers), capicola (pork cold cut), Mortadella (ground-meat cured pork large sausage), the semi-hard provolone cheese, extra virgin olive oil and soft subway bread seasoned with Italian spices. In a chopping board, place lettuce, tomatoes, pepperoncini, cheese and cold cuts and chop away till all of it appear somewhat shredded. Then place them in a bowl, add mayo, red wine vinegar, pepper and season with salt. Mix well. Stuff the subway bread with this appetising filling and you will have lunch on the go, New-York style.
You can replace the cold cuts with shredded chicken and egg, and even fried bits of meat. You cam play around with the cheeses too and use powdered parmesan. Better yet, grab hold of two different types of cheeses and you will have a party in hand. Pepperoncini could be hard to come by, and you might have to substitute with jalapeño or a bit of sriracha. Even the subway can be swapped with croissant, if you want a fancy version. The absolute essentials are mayonnaise, red wine vinegar and the extra virgin olive oil. Here’s a recipe for the chopped sandwich which neatly breaks down each step.