I’ve been spelling this dish wrong for days. It’s a good thing I figured it out before I posted this! It’s pronounced “ban-mee”, and not spelled Bahn Mi, but instead Banh Mi. I am sitting here writing this post past my bed time and watching “Salt Fat Acid Heat” on Netflix. I think it’s official: I am obsessed with all things food and cooking. Thanks for joining me on this mission to make every good recipe do-able and as mindless as possible, without having to compromise too much of the taste. Even if you love a homemade pasta (who doesn’t?) or baking from scratch, I’m sure there is something you can appreciate about short cuts and cheating your way through a recipe.
As I am learning new things in the kitchen, I want to document it all and share with you, so thank you for being here. Really, truly thank you. I have thoroughly enjoyed talking food with you and learning from you @hardlyhomemade on Instagram. Some of my favorite moments so far have been the recipe sharing, especially all the little ones cooking and my funny in laws. All of it a great dose of comic relief. The best thing of all, though, is the human connection. I feel so lucky to have this opportunity to make new friends, reconnect with old friends and meet friends of friends. We all need to stick together because dinners can be mind boggling and tough at times, but they don’t have to be!
This Banh Mi is not tough or mind boggling at all. It’s actually pretty intuitive and very yummy. As I’m watching this Netflix documentary, I am seeing why. It has the salt, the fat, the acid and the heat. Which makes for one flavorful dish!
Hacks:
- Sriracha Mayo: can actually be bought as a condiment now or you can make it. Two ingredients.
- Bakery baguettes or lettuce cups
- Bagged shredded carrots and the quickest way to pickle a vegetable below
- Ground pork (to avoid having to cut) or cut fatty pork chops into cubes
As you can see it is very adaptable and lends to personal preference, so I am going to write the recipe that way.
Easy Banh Mi (Two Ways)
Ingredients
- Lettuce cups or 3 baguettes cut in half
- For the Pickled Vegetables:
- 3/4 c bagged shredded carrots
- 3/4 c thinly sliced daikon radish
- 3/4 c thinly sliced red onion
- 6 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 6 tbsp sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- For the Pork:
- 1.5 pounds of ground pork (or pork chops cut in 1/2 inch cubes)
- 1 tbsp of minced garlic (4 cloves)
- 3 tbsp Asian fish sauce
- 2 juiced limes
- kosher salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp oil (vegetable, sesame or peanut)
- Toppings:
- 3/4 c mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons sriracha
- 1 bunch of finely chopped scallions
Directions
- Step 1 Gather three containers or jars with lids to pickle the vegetables. 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt in each one. Add one of each kind of vegetable to each jar, cover and shake very well to coat the veggies with the mixture, and let it sit for 20 minutes.
- Step 2 Meanwhile, marinate the pork in the rest of the ingredients up to the oil for about 20 minutes, and mix the sriracha and mayo together with a spoon.
- Step 3 If using ground pork, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the skillet, brown the meat and reserve the liquids for basting the meat while it’s cooking, 1 tablespoon at a time. If using pork chops, sear them on saute mode in the pressure cooker and then pressure cook for 7 minutes with all the liquids.
- Step 4 Assemble with pork, pickled vegetables, sriracha mayo and scallions for garnish. Enjoy!
Inspiration for this recipe came from Melissa Clark at NY Times Cooking.
