I celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago. Hubs and I usually go out for dinner on each other's birthdays, but this year we decided to stay in. He asked me what I wanted for dinner, and I was craving banh mi sandwiches. All those episodes of "Food Truck Road Race" got me thinking about banh mi.
Hubs found this recipe on the epicurious site. I nixed the jalepenos, since I'm not a fan of them raw. When choosing bread, look for the skinny baguettes. We had them on both the wide, poofy baguettes, and much preferred the thin ones. Sometimes you can find pickled carrots and daikon already made at Asian markets. We intended on freezing half the meatballs to eat at a later date. However, we liked the sandwiches so much that we ended up eating them all within a few days.
Banh Mi
Adapted from Bon Appetit
January 2010
For the meatballs:
1 lb ground pork
¼ c finely chopped fresh basil
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 green onions, white and light green part, chopped
1 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs sriracha
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
For the pickled vegetables:
1 c coarsely grated carrots
1 c coarsely grated peeled daikon
¼ c rice vinegar
¼ c sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
For the sandwiches:
1 Tbs sesame oil
Baguettes (2 or 3)
Fresh cilantro sprigs
Fresh mint sprigs
Line a rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Mix all the meatball ingredients together. Using moistened hands, roll into meatballs, using a scant tablespoonful of meat for each one. Arrange on baking sheet. Cover and chill for at least an hour. (Can be made a day in advance.)
For the pickled veggies: Toss the carrots, daikon, rice vinegar, sugar, and salt into a medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour, tossing occasionally.
Preheat oven to 250˚F. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook the meatballs in batches, browning on all sides and cooking through. Lower heat if they start to brown too quickly. Transfer cooked meatballs to a clean baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.
Cut baguettes into sandwich-sized portions. Slice in half horizontally. Place meatballs, pickled vegetables, cilantro, and mint on the bottom half. Top with the other half and press together.
Hubs found this recipe on the epicurious site. I nixed the jalepenos, since I'm not a fan of them raw. When choosing bread, look for the skinny baguettes. We had them on both the wide, poofy baguettes, and much preferred the thin ones. Sometimes you can find pickled carrots and daikon already made at Asian markets. We intended on freezing half the meatballs to eat at a later date. However, we liked the sandwiches so much that we ended up eating them all within a few days.
Banh Mi
Adapted from Bon Appetit
January 2010
For the meatballs:
1 lb ground pork
¼ c finely chopped fresh basil
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 green onions, white and light green part, chopped
1 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs sriracha
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
For the pickled vegetables:
1 c coarsely grated carrots
1 c coarsely grated peeled daikon
¼ c rice vinegar
¼ c sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
For the sandwiches:
1 Tbs sesame oil
Baguettes (2 or 3)
Fresh cilantro sprigs
Fresh mint sprigs
Line a rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Mix all the meatball ingredients together. Using moistened hands, roll into meatballs, using a scant tablespoonful of meat for each one. Arrange on baking sheet. Cover and chill for at least an hour. (Can be made a day in advance.)
For the pickled veggies: Toss the carrots, daikon, rice vinegar, sugar, and salt into a medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour, tossing occasionally.
Preheat oven to 250˚F. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook the meatballs in batches, browning on all sides and cooking through. Lower heat if they start to brown too quickly. Transfer cooked meatballs to a clean baking sheet and keep warm in the oven.
Cut baguettes into sandwich-sized portions. Slice in half horizontally. Place meatballs, pickled vegetables, cilantro, and mint on the bottom half. Top with the other half and press together.
i'm your 99th! so close to being 100!! this looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteThis looks so good. I can never justify making them at home since I can grab one for a couple of bucks a few blocks away.
ReplyDeleteI know this post is a little old but I'm looking to make banh mi sometime in the future. Two questions: What was the preheated oven for? and I've seen banh mi where the meat balls are smushed as they are cooking to form small flat patties. Would you do that with these meatballs?
ReplyDeletePaige - the preheated oven is to keep the meatballs warm while the rest of them cook. We left ours as meatballs, but you could make them flatter when you cook them if that is your preference.
ReplyDelete