Banh Mi
Andy introduced me to the wonders of the Vietnamese sandwich (banh mi) on my trip to Chicago last fall. I have sought them out around the Bay Area since coming here, but yesterday, a confluence of ingredients and hunger led me to attempt my own. Here is what I did. Made two sandwiches.
- 2 baguette rolls. I got and froze a bag of 30 of them from Safeway for $3.68 a while back
- 0.5 cucumber, seeded, and julienned
- 1 block of pre-fried tofu (“Hawaiian style” is what I had; this is half the package)
- 1 scallion, chopped up
- healthy amount of cilantro (don’t leave this out!!)
- 0.5 tbsp chili paste
- soy sauce
- sesame oil
Toast the rolls. While that’s going, chop the tofu into some kind of bite-sized morsel. Then dump the cucumber, scallion, and tofu into a bowl. Put in the chili paste, pour some soy sauce over it, and add a little drizzle of sesame oil. Of course, real Banh Mi have mayo, but I don’t keep that in the house, hence the oil. Also, it should probably have carrots, but I don’t like carrots. Toss the stuff around. Put it in the roll. Eat. Tastes pretty good.
