Banh Minis, Then the REAL Thing

I am late to the banh mi table. I had never had one of these tasty-sounding Vietnamese sandwiches, so I scoured the internet for ideas and recipes to make some at home. There were resources galore, and from these my banh "minis" happened...

 

  

Cute, huh?  I took the easy route and used ground pork and tweaked a Vietnamese-style meatball recipe.

• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1 TBS finely chopped fresh basil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-2 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 TBS roasted chili garlic paste (contained fish sauce & other yummy flavors)
• 1/2 TBS sugar
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Form into small patties & cook on grill or griddle until well-done.

 

The minis, from the bottom up:

• Trader Joe's mini french roll (toasted & rubbed w/garlic clove)
• mayo mixed w/roasted chili garlic paste
• thin sliced English cucumber
• cilantro leaves, left whole
• Vietnamese-style pork pattie
• thin sliced jalapeno
• quick-pickled carrots & radish (1/2 c rice wine vinegar + 1/4 c water + 6 TBS sugar, boiled until disolved then poured over julienne veggies) 

I figured they probably weren't even close to authentic, but they were still quite delicious. 

A couple weeks later I had the opportunity to try a real-deal banh mi sandwich at Pho Nom Nom in Rockville, MD.  I ordered roast pork, and for a little more than $4 I had proof that while their bread was much lighter, the flavors of my faked sandwich were right on point with the legit one (pictured below)...nailed it! 

 

Also, Vietnamese iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk is out of this world...it's soooooo creamy and sweet with a nice strong, but smooth, coffee flavor.  I'm craving one as I type.  And I definitely want to go back and try Nom Nom's pho...the orders around me looked fresh, hot and flavorful.

So, when you don't have easy access to a restaurant item...do a little research and try to created it yourself!