Hello friends and not yet friends,
Let's make one of the best sandwiches known to humankind since the 1950's.
The Banh Mi sandwich can come in countless varieties; always well balanced with savory,
fresh, tangy and sweet flavours.
And today, I'll share my vegan version.
The other week, I showed you have to make the crispy crackly golden Vietnamese-style
baguette at home.
Some of you insisted it was Bolillo but I have yet to try this Mexican bread and my
search here in Calgary turned up nada so someone will have to help me find one to try to see
if there is a difference or not.
But back to banh mi of today, we'll make the quick pickled vegetables and everything else
you need to assemble the best sandwich you can make at home.
Or well, one of the very best.
And to make it the best, try to start with the best quality produce.
Sadly, this daikon is a little on the limpy side but it is still quite usable.
When you shop for it, it could be labelled as Chinese or Japanese radish or lobok.
And it can be long and skinny like this or stubby and thick.
Which ever type you get, peel the thin skin from it like you would a carrot.
While we're at it, let's peel some carrots too.
You know how I feel about carrots.
But in a banh mi sandwich, they are more than welcome.
With these root veggies nice and naked, I'm off to get my big knife.
Turn around and what do we have here?
I'll have to sanitize everything again and switch cutting boards but how could you be
upset with this face?
Trick question!
You can't!
Alright, with a new cutting board, let's cut some matchsticks.
If you have a mandolin that you're comfortable with, you might use that.
Or you might grate these veggies instead.
The first banh mi sandwich I ever ate had grated pickled veggies and that one.
Wow the clouds parted.
Shout out to Thuy who generously shared her sandwich with me when I was at the bottom
of my weight classing wrestling 52 kilos at my first invitational where I didn't know
a person needed to bring snacks.
Or trim their nails to regulation.
That was a long time ago.
Best not to reminisce while handling sharps objects.
For a thick veggie like this, I like to cut a flat plane on one side so it can sit securely
without rolling away.
Then cut thin planks.
Stack them.
And cut matchsticks.
Careful to slice downwards using your knuckles as a guide.
But don't press your fingers downwards as this can cause the slices to slip and then
we'll have a messy situation on our hands.
No sandwich, only urgent care visit.
Whoops, I mean to keep the daikon and carrots from touching each other because when I shot
this, I was still reacting to carrots.
Since we have our big knife out already, might as well slice up some more veggies.
Okay, time to make do this quick pickle thing.
I'm warning you now, I never ever measure in real life for these pickles.
I'm only measuring right now for you guys.
These are the sacrifices one must make for YouTube.
That's a half cup of sugar or one-to-one sweetener.
And oh about 3/4ths to one cup of vinegar.
Don't be going for rice vinegar, we want straight up sharp and pungent white vinegar here.
Then I take this to the microwave to heat about a minute and a half so the sugar or
sweetener can dissolve.
Then taking a clean mason jar that I sterilized with boiling water, I'm going to fill it with
our lovely daikon matchsticks.
And just to be clear, this jar isn't truly sterile.
I just want to do a good job of having it clean since I do plan on having this jar in
the fridge for a good long while.
It might not look like I can fit it all in there but it'll fit.
Now we can pour the sweet vinegar mixture in.
And fill the rest up with hot boiling water.
The daikon gets par-cooked this way and they become tasty in as little as 30 minutes.
But they do taste better if you let them cool until it's safe to put in the fridge and then
chill completely though.
Let's do the same with the carrots.
By the way, typically you can put the carrots and daikon in the same jar.
But I'm keeping them separate just in case I'm still reacting to carrots.
See my last video if you want an explanation on that.
I actually think it tastes better if you combine the two.
Since I was on a roll, I pickled the bell peppers too.
By the way, quick pickling doesn't have the same preservative effect as real canning at
all so you're going to keep these quick pickles in the fridge and use them up within 4 to
6 weeks.
For our main protein, well, I'm of the opinion that any protein will do.
Tofu works great whether you marinate and bread it up and pan fry it.
Or just slice it thin and grill it.
Bean patties?
Why not?
But today I'm using the tempeh bacon I almost threw away because tempeh was triggering my
Oral Allergy Syndrome but I had the mind to freeze this as I couldn't bear the thought
of tossing my favourite tempeh bacon.
And lo and behold, that cross-reactivity has calmed down and I can have tempeh again!
Thank goodness!
I'll just brush on some oil and air fry it.
Seems like no matter what I air fry recently I always use the steak setting.
400°F, 6 minutes.
Meanwhile, I'm also going to try these gluten-free buns.
Someone suggested them in the comments so we'll see if we can't have a good gluten-free
option.
They are small little buns though.
I'll leave one out to thaw and toast up later.
We'll also need some finely sliced onion.
Typically, the Vietnamese sandwich shops I've been to use white or yellow onion but Dr.
Gregor has convinced me that red onions are better in every way.
Plus they look nicer in pictures.
And I'll get some fresh cilantro ready.
And my pate alternative.
Banh mi sandwiches typically begin with a smear of mayo and pate which provides a lot
of earthy, savory, salty flavour and some fat.
For today I'm using avocado as the creamy base today but feel free to change it up!
For a while, I was making an incredible but super garlicky yam dip based on an appy from
Foundation, an old school vegetarian spot in Vancouver where I'm originally from.
It's no longer there sadly but the power of that garlic still remains.
For this avocado spread, I'll add garlic powder, onion powder, and white pepper.
For the umami saltiness, a scoop of white miso paste.
Then mix and mash.
Finally, we have everything we need.
Including a freshly baked crispy crackly banh mi.
Slice open.
And take out some of that fluffiness to make room for fillings.
What you do with the fluffiness is up to you.
Spread on a generous helping of avocado pate.
Add your tempeh bacon.
Or whatever delightful protein you have on hand.
Sweet and tangy daikon.
And carrots.
And maybe bell peppers if you just couldn't leave well enough alone like me.
Sliced jalapeno or hot peppers.
I would ordinary add cucumber as well but the last time I was at grocery store, they
were $4 a piece and that's just too rich for my blood.
I'll just skip to the onion.
And lots of fresh cilantro.
Leave it out if you don't like cilantro.
But if you do, definitely don't leave it out.
Also, you must add a splash of this.
Maggi seasoning.
I have read something about a gluten-free version out there but I couldn't find one.
So use gluten-free tamari if you also can't find gluten-free maggi seasoning.
Speaking of gluten-free, that bun turned out pretty good.
Very small.
But it did the job.
If the job was making a kid-sized gluten-free banh mi.
I think I'd need three of these.
Or one of these.
That's our most delicious banh mi sandwich you can make at home.
As you have figured by now, this is an endlessly customizable sandwich.
And there are no rules!
Thanks so much for watching my friend.
Please give this video a thumbs up if you liked it and subscribe if you haven't already.
Bye for now!