Here’s a twist on an American classic: sliced bread + cheese + sushi ginger. The result is a surprisingly hearty roll up of sweet-and-sour goodness.

Between courses of sushi, pickled sushi ginger (or gari) usually serves as a palette cleanser. Bite of unagi. Ginger. Bite of tuna sashimi. Ginger.

Sliced ginger atop Swiss cheese makes on whole wheat bread makes for a moist and tasty twist on the classic grilled cheese sandwich

But here in this recipe, snuggled between slices of bread lathered in butter and mayonnaise, it adds a layer of lightness, evoking a contrast of flavors aside slabs of cheese (swiss or cheddar, take your pick).

Ginger also adds a nutritional punch.

The rhizome, or underground stem, is widely touted as an anti-inflammatory loaded with antioxidants. It’s also used across many cultures to counter common ailments such as nausea, osteoarthritis, menstrual cramp pain and morning sickness.

But eating raw ginger by itself can be a challenge, except maybe ginger candies or dried seasoned ginger. More often, ginger is best paired with other foods both savory and sweet. In Australia and New Zealand and across Asia, fresh fruit juice vendors often add ginger to their smoothies to give their drinks a healthy kick.

This recipe sneaks in ginger not with the typical tough and spicy kind you might find in your grocery’s produce aisle, but its tender, sweeter-tasting sibling. Gari is made from thinly sliced young ginger, marinated in sugar and vinegar. Buy it in an Asian grocery or in small bottles in the spice section of most larger grocery stores.

Prep time: 5 Minutes. Cooking Time: 15 Minutes / 2 sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces, sliced multigrain bread or wheat bread
• 4–8 pieces, thinly sliced cheese (e.g. Swiss cheese, sharp cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack)
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature
• 4 Tbsp. mayonnaise
• 20 slices, sushi ginger

Optional Ingredients:

• ~10 leaves of fresh basil
• 2 ripe avocados (thinly sliced 1/8 inch thick)
• (Optional) Cooked, shredded chicken or beef

Preparation:

1. Spread 1 Tbsp. butter on one side of the bread
2. Flip over the buttered bread and spread 1 Tbsp. mayonnaise on the other side. Repeat for all 4 slices of bread. This adds moisture to the sandwich. (For more flavor, add honey mustard to the mayonnaise or as a substitute for the mayonnaise. Make sure it is not too much, or you sandwich will get soggy.)

3. Put sliced cheese on top of the mayonnaise side and cover every piece of bread completely. Put 10 pieces of Sushi ginger on top of the mayonnaise on one piece of bread or as many slices to cover the bread entirely. Optionally, add basil and avocado (and optional shredded meat), atop the ginger

4. Put another piece of bread on top of the ginger with mayonnaise side down.

5. Now the sandwich is ready for grilling with butter on both sides of the sandwich. Warm up a pan, setting it to on low heat (or 3–5 out of 10) for 5 minutes. The beauty of pan toasting is you get to control the crispiness of your grilled cheese sandwich to your liking without being subject to the vagaries of your toaster oven.

7. Put the sandwich’s buttered side to the pan and grill for 3–5 minutes. Occasionally, check the bread is browned to your liking, and the cheese is slightly melted. Then, flip over the sandwich and grill the other side.

Finally, the sandwich is toasted on both sides, and it’s ready to serve. With ginger, you’ve just upped your game for a classic American comfort food.

Green tea, anyone?

Recipe by Tenney Woo. This article was co-written by Tenney Woo and Peggy T. Lim.

Tenney Woo loves traveling and has a passion for cooking and eating healthy food. He cooks for large groups and provides cooking lessons and demonstrations in international festivals. He has learned and gathered recipes from traveling 49 countries so far. Tenney lives in North Carolina.

Peggy Lim writes about food (mainly with Tenney), culture and health. She formerly wrote for The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer and The Tampa Tribune. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.