I enjoyed making this Banh Mi so much. Using our Christmas leftovers to make a satisfyingly delicious sandwich along with pickled vegetables is the absolute best thing! By the way, I’ve two other recipes: the Christmas Leftover Stew and Kimchi Fried Rice, that also uses Christmas leftovers, so do check them out.
Okay back to this recipe! Banh Mi – pronounced as “BUN-mee” is the Vietnamese term for “bread”. Uniquely, this term also refers to a special kind of sandwich that shares the culinary fusion of two different cultures, the French and Vietnamese.
Back in the Mid-19th century when Vietnam fell under French colonial rule, the French brought their baguette with them, and the Vietnamese people began to enjoy it as much as they did using platters of cold cuts, butter, cheese and pâtés. Even though French rule ended, the Vietnamese’ love for the baguette sandwich remained (hooray!)! They added their own twists, of course. Mayonnaise replaced butter, cilantro and fresh chillies as well as their well-loved pickled vegetables got thrown in the mix and the Banh Mi was born!
Today’s recipe is the perfect representation of a Banh Mi sandwich that includes both the French and Vietnamese culinary traditions using Chicken Liver Pâté and not forgetting, the delicious pickled vegetables! With that, let’s jump straight into the recipe!
Making Instructions
The star ingredient in a Banh Mi sandwich for me are the pickled vegetables. For this recipe, all you need is 24 hours for the pickle to be ready to use. This time (in the fridge) allows the flavours from the vinegar and sugar to infuse into the vegetables.
So here goes! I’ll be using carrots, cucumbers and daikon. Start off by slicing all these vegetables into matchsticks. In a colander, add a heap tablespoon of salt into the vegetables and start massaging the salt with the vegetables. Why do we do this? Well, massaging them with salt allows excess water to leave the vegetables so that we can expect a crunchier vegetable pickle. After massaging, let the vegetables sit for 20 minutes.
During this time, we can prepare the pickling liquid which consists of simply rice vinegar, water, salt and sugar. Mix all three ingredients together into a saucepan and heat it up gently, no need for boiling this just a constant stir to dissolve all the salt and sugar. This won’t take longer than 2-3 minutes.
The vegetables would have quite a bit of liquid coming off of them. Run them under running cold water to rinse off all the excess salt. Next up: pat your vegetables to remove excess moisture.
Now, let’s pack these pickles! Fill a suitably-sized glass jar or jars with the vegetables. I’ll also be adding some thinly sliced red onions and bird’s eye chillies in between the vegetables. I really do love spicy things! Lastly, pour in the pickling liquid till all the vegetables are submerged, cover the jars tightly and leave them in the fridge overnight!
YAY! Now that’s done, we can finally assemble our Banh Mi sandwich! Grab a fresh baguette (TIP: TOAST IT for a lovely crunch) and spread the Chicken Liver Pate on both pieces of bread. I absolutely detest sandwiches that have a spread that does not spread all the way to the edges! Spread them all the way – every bare, naked bread surface needs to be covered by a spread! Not only does it add flavour, it gives moisture to a sandwich and for a baguette that can be quite crusty, I cannot emphasise this enough!
Ok so let’s continue building the sandwich. Add some pieces of the leftover roast turkey, followed by a layer of avocado, your pickled vegetables, fresh mint and coriander and lastly lettuce. You can do this with anything you like and in any order of course! Once all stacked with these delicious ingredients, enjoy your fantastic first bite!
There it is, the perfect breakfast, lunch, dinner or even midnight sandwich for you and your loved ones to enjoy!
Vietnamese Pickles on Banh Mi Sandwich
30
minutes15
minutesVietnamese banh mi sandwich, the perfect breakfast, lunch, dinner or even midnight sandwich for you and your loved ones to enjoy!
Ingredients For PICKLED VEGETABLES
2 glass jar
2 medium carrots
2 medium Japanese cucumbers
1 large daikon
1 – 2 red onions
2 birds eye chilli
680g water
452g vinegar apple cider or white distilled
200g sugar
2tbsp + 2sp salt
- INGREDIENTS FOR BANH MI SANDWICH
leftover chicken liver pate
leftover roast meat (turkey roulade)
baguette
fresh coriander
fresh mint
sliced avocados
salad leaves/ romaine lettuce
Directions for pickled vegetables
- Slice carrot, cucumber, daikon, chilli padi and onion. Wash the vegetables – except chilli padi and onion.
- Add salt into the bowl of vegetables – excluding chilli padi and onion and massage the salt into the vegetables for 1 few minutes. Let the salt sit into the vegetables for 20 minutes.
- Over a low heat, add water, sugar, and rice vinegar in a saucepan. Stir until dissolved. Once dissolved, let it sit aside to cool completely.
- Rinse the salted vegetables and pat dry with paper.
- Place the dry vegetables into a glass jar remembering to add onion and chilli padi in between the layers of vegetables.
- Pour in the pickling liquid into the jar, right till the brim.
- DIRECTIONS FOR BANH MI
- Toast your baguette, spread pate on the bread.
- Assemble your vegetables starting with – roasted turkey, avocado, pickled vegetables, fresh mint, fresh coriander and lettuce.
- Close the sandwich and enjoy!
I really hope you do enjoy this Banh Mi sandwich as much as I do! Check out the full recipe in action on my YouTube channel and don’t forget to tag me at ImeldaWadhwa on Instagram when you try this out! With that, have a lovely New Year! Till our next recipe.
Deliciously Yours, Mel!
