Recipe

Vietnamese Banh Mi Sandwich

  • Meat. Gooood.

    Bread. Gooood.

    Pickled Vegetabes. Good.

    Creamy Soy Sauce. Good.

    Put it all together to make the best sandwich ever. Verrrrrrrry good.

    It actually doesn’t seem fair to call this a sandwich. These days, the word sandwich evokes a picture of two pieces of some sort of floppy bread, smeared with PB&J, or cream cheese stuffed into a condensation filled plastic bag, pulled out from the bottom of a knapsack, 20 degrees hotter than it was when I put it in there in the morning.

    That is not what’s happening here.

    The banh mi is a sandwich at it’s best. It’s basically the little black dress of sandwiches. It consists of 4 very simple components that can be switched up or accessorized in a ton of different ways. No matter what you do to it though, the basic premise is a good French baguette, quickly cooked protein, flavor bomb pickled veg, umami packed mayonnaise and fresh herbs keep this sandwich down to earth, easy to make, portable, and simple but sophisticated.

    The banh mi is what happened as a result of Vietnam being a French occupied colony from the middle of the 19th century until Vietnam’s independence in 1954. Like any good group of people, the Vietnamese took the incredible baguette that the French brought with them, made it their own and stuffed it with a combinations of France’s best delicacies and their own deeply cultural pickled veggies. The Banh Mi, which really just translates to mean “bread of wheat”, became a staple across Vietnam because it could be filled with anything and carried around easily.

     

    The first banh mi sandwiches were spread with a thin layer of French liver pate, then filled with a thin layer of thinly sliced meat, topped with pickled vegetables (usually carrots and radishes) and fresh Vietnamese coriander leaves. It was the perfect east meets west combo.

    Over time, the Bahn mi has transformed to mean any kind of sandwich as long as it’s in a Vietnamese style French baguette, filled with some sort of protien and loaded with pickled veggies and coriander. They sell them on the streets of Vietnam filled with thinly sliced beef, scrambled eggs, crushed pork meatballs, roasted pork belly, tofu for the vegans out there, grilled chicken and even sardines.

    For pretty obvious reasons, I chose to go the route of thinly sliced meat. In my house nobody is vegan, eggs are for breakfast, we keep kosher and if I served my husband and sons a sardine sandwich they would trade me in.

    Liver pate was optional so for those that unwisely chose to skip it I created a soy sauce-mayonnaise to add in some of that creamy umaminess they were missing.

    Traditionally Vietanam style French baguettes actually have a bit of a thinner crust than regular French baguettes but I couldn’t find that so I just went with I had access to. You can, of course make your own baguette, but then this would not be an easy to make sandwich anymore.

    Pickled veggies are a staple in my fridge. They come in many forms, flavored differently and grace basically every dish I serve. If you aren’t obsessed with pickled veggies, you will be after you make this sandwich so  double or triple the recipe so that you too will have a well stocked pickled veggie fridge. I also added thinly sliced spicy peppers for some heat and although you can leave it out, I urge you strongly to try the banh mi with it.

    However you do it, whether with meat, chicken, tofu, eggs, sardines or really any other protein you can think of just make sure to cross this dish off your list of “I want to make that one day but not today” dishes because you will absolutely fall in love with it at the first bite. And all over again with every other subsequent bite you take.

     

  • For the meat

    1. 1&1/2 lbs. very thinly sliced steak (think Philly style meat)
    2. 3 cloves garlic, minced
    3. 2 tsp. sugar
    4. 2 tsp. black pepper
    5. 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
    6. 1 tsp. salt
    7. 1&1/2 tsp. sesame oil
    8. 4 Tbsp. canola oil

    For the pickled vegetables

    1. 4-5 large peeled, carrots
    2. 1/4 lb. radishes, washed and tops cut off
    3. 3 cups warm water
    4. 4 Tbsp. rice vinegar
    5. 2-3 Tbsp sugar (depending on how sweet you like your pickles)
    6. 2 Tbsp. salt

    For the Soy-Lime Mayonnaise

    1. 1 egg
    2. 1 cup oil
    3. 1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
    4. 1 lime halved
    5. 1/4 tsp. salt
    6. 1/2 tsp. black pepper
    7. 1 Tbsp. soy sauce

    For the Pickled Vegetables

    1. Either using a food processor fitted with the grate attachment that has the largest holes, or by using a knife, cut carrots into matchsticks and very thinly slice radishes.
    2. Place carrots and radishes into jars. (You can combine in one jar or jar separately)
    3. Combine all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
    4. Pour pickling liquid into the jars until the vegetables are covered.
    5. Allow vegetables to sit in pickling liquid for 1 hour before using.

    For the Soy Lime Mayonnaise

    1. Place all the ingredients (besides the soy sauce) in the long container that comes with your immersion blender.
    2. Place the blender in and the second it touches the eggs turn it on and do not lift it (oil on top will slowly drizzle in).
    3. Once the mixture on the bottom of the container gets thicker gently gently lift up one side and then don’t lift other side until all oil is streamed in.
    4. Continue that process of only lift one side and then the other until you reach the top of the container.
    5. At this point go up and down 2-3 times and all the oil will be incorporated and your mayo thick and creamy.
    6. Add in the soy sauce and gently fold in with a spatula.
    7. Refrigerate mayo for at least 2 hours before serving.

    For the meat

    1. Pour all the ingredients for the marinade into a ziplock bag.
    2. Shake bag to mix.
    3. Add in the meat and shake again to distribute the marinade all over the meat.
    4. Marinate for at least 1 hour.
    5. Preheat a skillet over high heat till it is very hot.
    6. Add a tsp of oil to the pan to prevent meat from sticking and working in small batches add a 1/4 of the meat to the pan.
    7. Stir constantly to prevent sticking.
    8. Since the meat is sliced very thinly it will only take 1-2 minutes to cook.
    9. Once the meat is cooked, remove from the pan and continue to cook the rest of the meat in the same way.

    For the mayonnaise

    To assemble the Banh Mi

    1. Slice baguettes in half lengthwise.
    2. Spread bottom half with a nice amount of Soy Lime Mayonnaise.
    3. Add a layer of the sliced meat and top with pickled vegetables.
    4. Top vegetables with a few leaves of cilantro and some of the thinly sliced chiles.
    5. Eat right away and Enjoy!

    Notes

    1. You can easily substitute the meat for chicken, scrambled eggs tofu to even ground beef.
    2. Also, it is very traditional to add a smear of liver pate. You can use any good quality pate! Definitely give it a try because it is absolutely delicious!

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