I love the way food travels around the world, weaving aspects of one culture into another. The French brought their crisp, fluffy baguettes to Vietnam in the mid-1800s and just over a century later, the Vietnamese brought them to Australia. Now bánh mi are one of our take-away mainstays. While they’re a healthy quick lunch to grab on the run, they’re even better when you take the time to make them at home … and fun to serve as finger food or a starter if you turn them into mini bánh mi on slices of baguette. Enjoy with a 333 Vietnamese beer!
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 half-baguette or 2 Vietnamese bread rolls
- 2 tablespoons whole-egg aïoli (see below)
- 2 leaves oakleaf lettuce, torn
- 100g char siu, thinly sliced
- 40g pickled carrot and daikon
- 1 green onion, cut into thin strips
- ½ Lebanese cucumber, thinly sliced
- Pickled minced red chilli, to taste
- Small sprigs coriander, and/or perilla, mint or Thai basil leaves, to taste
Birch & Waite make a great whole-egg aïoli.
Method
- If using a baguette, slice into two then slice in half lengthways, if using rolls, just slice lengthways.
- Spread cut sides with aïoli.
- Add lettuce, then char siu.
- Top with pickled carrot and daikon then green onion.
- Slide slices of cucumber in against the other side of the bread.
- Add as much or as little chilli as you like.
- Tuck in a sprig or 2 of coriander and/or perilla, mint or Thai basil leaves and serve.
