Bahn Mi

We've been asked a number of times since living in Utah if we miss New York City. My immediate response is no. Brian's answer is that he misses aspects of the city, that it's a nice place to visit but not to live, and that the things he misses most are the foods. He misses places like Prosperity Dumpling, our neighborhood Thai restaurant, and street carts among others. Specific foods he misses are falafels, dumplings, glass noodle salad, soup dumplings, avocado smoothies, and bahn mi sandwiches.

Well his longing for bahn mi has finally been satisfied thanks to his parents. After they visited us in NY, and Brian introduced them to this Vietnamese sandwich, they looked up recipes and figured out how to recreate the sandwich. Kris made it for us while we were up visiting them a few weeks ago. Brian was in heaven after he took the first bite. He was reunited with one of his favorite NYC things. (In 2012 wrote about Brian trying his first bahn me sandwich here.)

We tried our hand at making them ourselves this last weekend and they turned out great. I was able to find all of the ingredients except two at our normal grocery stores. Luckily, there is a little Asian market in Ogden, and we were able to find the daikon radish and chili radish strips marinated in soy sauce.

The sandwich itself isn't hard to make at all. We used this recipe and then added a few things. I think the sandwich is better with pork than chicken, but the chicken is good as well. To make the sandwich you start with a crusty baguette sliced into sandwiched sized lengths. Slice the bread in half lengthwise to open it up. Spread mayonnaise on each surface. Add chicken or pork. If using pork, prepare by browning ground pork with a few diced jalapenos (optional), soy sauce, and a bit of ginger. Top with pickled carrots and daikon radishes cut into matchsticks (pickle according to linked recipe; we let ours soak in the rice vinegar mixture overnight). Add thinly sliced cucumbers, cilantro, marinated chili radish strips, uncooked diced jalapenos, siracha sauce, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. You can omit or add toppings as desired. Adding more jalapenos and siracha sauce gives the sandwich more heat.

I never tried the bahn mi while we lived in NYC, I just wasn't brave enough. I did eat one while in Idaho though, and they are pretty delicious. They sure make for a happy Brian! Now we just need to figure out how to recreate an avocado smoothie to go with it.