Almost Banh Mi

At T&T the other day I purchased a Banh Mi... aka Vietnamese Sub. It was delicious! I had not clue what was in it, but I quite enjoyed stuffing it in my mouth :P That's me! Sadly, I did not take my camera with me and thus I will not be posting photos of that Banh Mi. So let me describe it... this sub sandwich was filled with bbq pork, pickled daikon and carrots and lettuce, all stuffed inside a mayo+fish sauce+butter smothered soft-vietnamese bun. The only thing I think it was lacking was some cilantro, that would have been delicious. So, after I got home I decided that I'd have this sub for lunch the next day; but I wasn't going to spend money on it when I had the basic ingredients at home. It's time to make some Banh Mi!

Pickling the Veggies

Well, you've got to pickle your veggies before you can put pickled veggies in the sandwich... duh! So here's the recipe I used for my pickled daikon and carrots.

Method:

1. Cut half of a medium daikon and 2 carrots into juliennes and place in a large jar (I used a pasta sauce jar, i.e. Ragu).

2. Pour in 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 cup water, 1/3 cup white vinegar.

3. Shake it all around and let sit for at least 1 hr, overnight is best.

For the Banh Mi filling I used whatever I had on hand, so it's not the traditional vietnamese sub. I filled it with cilantro, my pickled veggies, some chicken, hoisin sauce, sambal oelek and some sliced chinese mushrooms. And sadly I did not have the nice chewy submarine sandwich bun, so I had to make due with regular sliced bread. Well, here's a pick of the real Banh Mi if you're interested in seeing what the real thing looks like. Much different from my poor excuse for a viet-sub, but they were both equally delicious... in their own way.