Pork Meatball Banh Mi

     Have you ever heard of a Banh Mi? I had not until just very recently. I was looking for something Vietnamese or Thai to cook. Nothing struck my fancy from my cookbook collection ( I have a number of Southeast asian cookbooks that have great recipes. But I have read over them so often, I wanted a fresh take on things). And so I turned to Epicurious and  glad I am that I did. A whole new world of sandwiches came into view! I quite literally stumbled on the Banh Mi recipe and was led to another web site - Not sure how I got there, I couldn't retrace my steps so I could give an accurate map. Anyway - a great site called Battle of theBanh Mi has quite a bit of info on these tasty sandwiches, along with several recipes.

     So what is a Banh Mi? It is describes as a Vietnamese hybrid sandwich, Vietnamese baguette sandwich and French-Vietnamese sandwich. It is, I suppose, best served on a true Vietnamese baguette, which differs from the French version by often containing rice flour. But, small town almost central Illinois does not have such a thing as a Vietnamese baguette. So I will have to content myself with the French style found here. The filling for this sandwich can be chicken, shrimp, pork, beef, vegetarian. Toppings generally include a spice mayonnaise, pickled carrots and daikon (radish), hot peppers and cucumber slices.

     Epicurious actually had 2 recipes for this sandwich, a pork version from Bon Appetit and a chicken version from Gourmet. I chose to make for my first Banh Mi, the pork version because I had pork I needed to use.  I present to you:

                                             Pork Meatball Banh Mi          as presented on Epicurious. Serves 4
photo by ric w

For the Hot Chili Mayo:

2/3c mayonnaise

2 green onions, finely chopped

1T hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)    see my post from      for a sriracha recipe

For the Meatballs:

1 pound ground pork

1/4c finely chopped fresh basil

4 cloves garlic minced

3 green onions, finely chopped

1T fish sauce ( such as nam pla or nuoc nam)

1T hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)  -see 12-27-09 post for recipe

1T sugar

2tsp cornstarch

1tsp freshly ground black pepper

1tsp coarse kosher salt

For the Sandwiches:




2c coarsely grated carrots

2c coarsely grated peeled daikon (Japanese white radish)

1/4c unseasoned rice vinegar

1/4c sugar

Pickled veggies and Hot chili Mayo

1tsp coarse kosher salt

1T Asian sesame oil

4 10" long individual baguettes

Thinly sliced jalapeno chilis

16 large fresh sprigs cilantro







Preparation:

Hot Chili Mayo:

Stir all ingredients in a small bowl. Season with salt. Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.




Meatballs:

Line rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Gently mix all ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant tablespoonful for each, roll meat mixture into 1" meatballs. Attange on baking sheet. Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.

Sandwiches:

Toss first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Let stand 1 hour at room temperature, tossing occasionally.




Preheat oven to 300 drgrees. Heat sesame oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 of meatballs. Saute until brown and cooked through, turning meatballs often and lowering the heat if browning too quickly, about 15 minutes. Transfer meatballs to another rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs.




Cut baguette in half. Pull out enough bread from each half to leave 1/2 inch thick shell. Spread hot chili mayo over each bread shell. Arrange jalapenos, then cilantro, in bottom half. Fill each with 1/4 of meatballs. Drain pickled vegetables, place atop meatballs. Press on baguette tops.  *** I would also add a few cucumbers for a crisp and clean crunch. This is not in the original recipe, but I think it adds a "little something" - that crunch, which I really enjoyed.





Serve and enjoy.

     This particular version has all the attributes so important to asian cooking: hot, salty, sweet and sour. 








I plan to try a number of other Banh Mi recipes in coming days. I'll keep you posted.




AND---- The temperature got up to 40 plus degrees today with lots of sunshine!! How great that was after the last weeks of COLD!  Hurrah!!!!!



Sriracha Garlic Chili Hot Sauce

     I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Our family was able to be together for Christmas Eve. This year is a bit easier than last. It is the second Christmas since my Dad passed away. My boys and myself and my Mother gathered at her house, my brother was not able to be here. Christmas night, the boys and Mom went to his house - I had to work and so missed out.
     We didn't do a great deal of decorating this year, just a few lights inside, no tree, but a few decorations. In my house, it is too dangerous to have many pretties out and about. My cats delight themselves in mischief, and anything that rolls, tips, hangs down or has a new smell is fair game for their shenanigans. I received a ceramic pot with 3 amaryllis for my birthday earlier this month. The pot was very nice - the flowers just starting to grow. Alas, a cat decided the pot was where he wanted to sit. I'm not sure how it happened, but the pot is no more. I had to rescue the 3 flowers and re-pot them. I think they will be OK, but the pot is beyond repair.
     I made the oreo truffels with white almond bark trimmed with chocolate. And just dipped in chocolate almond bark.

They were a huge hit. That recipe is a keeper. Also made fudge and peanut brittle - both from recipes my Home Ec teacher gave us waaaaaaayyyyy back in junior high.
     I found a recipe for Sriacha -glazed chicken with onions on recipeezaar and thought it sounded very good. But I had to find a recipe for sriracha sauce, as I've never seen it in a store around here. There are several recipes out there, but I decided to try one listed on whiteonricecouple blog. I have modified their recipe a bit to fit what I had on hand. If you would like to find their recipe on the link above, search for Chili Garlic Hot Sauce - Cult Sriracha Style.
                                                 Sriracha Glazed Chicken

This sauce is both hot - depending on your sriracha sauce - and sweet. If you want a hotter sauce, you might serve hot peppers or extra sriracha on the side. This serves 4. Cooking is fairly quick, prep time is about 20 minutes.

2c cooked rice
3T hoison sauce - I prefer to double the sauce part of recipe. That is the hoison, catsup and sriracha
1T catsup
11/4tsp sriracha sauce - or more if you like. Know how hot your sauce is before adding even the 11/2tsp. I have some peppers that are HOT to hot-mild. Depending on the amounts of each I use, the sauce can vary wildly in scoville units!
11/2tsp oil
11/2c thinly sliced onion rings
1T fresh minced ginger or 1tsp dried/powdered ginger
1T minced garlic or 1tsp garlic granules
3/4tsp curry powder - optional. The curry adds a nice note, I think. I made this with and without the curry. My family preferred less curry.
1# boneless, skinless chicken cut into 1" cubes, or into thin slices or single servings. Cooking times will vary, obviously, depending on thickness. If using a single portion size, partially cook the meat first. Reason - you don't really want to overcook the sauce.
parsley or chopped nuts - of your choice - for a garnish

Prepare rice without oil, salt or seasonings.

Combine the hoison sauce, catsup and sriracha sauce in a small bowl

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over high heat. When shimmering, reduce heat to medium-high

Add onions, stir for about 1 minute and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and sweat the onions for about 5 minutes. Uncover and increase heat to medium high. Cook and stir onions until slightly golden. I add this step because I prefer the taste of the onions this way.

Agg ginger, garlic and curry. tir well. Add chicken and saute about 6 minutes until chicken is done. Adjust cooking time for thickness of meat.

Stir in the hoison mixture and stir well.

Serve sauce with garnishes, if using.

                                                      Sriracha Sauce ala whiteonricecouple

1c thai chili peppers. I use what I have on hand. Generally I have Aji limon, and several other Aji species, 
   Jalapenos, Habanero, etc. The flavor of the sauce is not "authentic" with these - but I can't find thai chilis
   here, and I have never raised them. For a milder sauce, use milder chilis.

4-5 med cloves garlic, minced
2 med shallots Again, in my area I can't always find shallots. I generally substitute green onions - a poor
   substitute, but it's what I can find. ( a story - all my shallots were accidentally tossed when I had to get a
   new refrigerator this fall. How I cried to lose all my fresh, beautiful garlic and shallots)
1T oil
2-8 oz tomato sauce.  Flavor will vary with less or more. Start with the lesser amount. If you find the sauce is
   a little "off", add a bit more and taste again, until you find the amount you like.
1T Fish Sauce. Spy sauce is a recommended substitute, but I really recommend trying to find and use Fish
   Sauce.

3T Rice Vinegar
3T sugar

Rinse chilis and stem. You can seed them, which is supposed to reduce their heat. ***REMEMBER - always wear gloves when working with chilis. Mince chilis - mincing will make for a smoother sauce.

In a small saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat and add garlic and shallots.Saute about 1 minute - don't burn the garlic.Reduce heat slightly if you are afraid you might.

Add tomato sauce and peppers. Bring to a simmer and maintain. Add fish sauce, vinegar and sugar. Stir well.

Simmer about 5 minutes to soften peppers.

Remove from heat and cool completely.

Reansfer to a blender and blend until smooth or as close to smooth as possible. Use liquefy mode if your blender has one.

Taste, and adjust seasonings. This may be tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar or water. Blend after additions. Pour into a clean glass jar. Tighten lid securely. Store in refrigerator and use within 1 week.

     I hope you enjoy these recipes and the variations possible, just by changing a few ingredients or amounts.
And thanks to the whiteonricecouple for a great sriracha recipe.