My own Banh mi (Vietnamese – style Sandwich)

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Hi everyone,

I’m so glad to be back and introduce my way of making Banh mi (Vietnamese-style sandwich), which is really famous around the world. Beside Pho, I would say Banh mi (Vietnamese-style sandwich) is one of the must-try food items for you when you’d like to know about Vietnamese cuisine. In my last entry, I already introduced you guys my recipe of making Do chua (Daikon pickles) to have with Banh mi.

As I mentioned, I would say Banh mi would never has a good taste without Do chua (Daikon pickles). Do chua (Daikon) brings banh mi (Vietnamese-style sandwich) a fresh and tangy flavor and balance out everything such as pork, pate or even butter. Literally, ”Banh” means bread and “mi” means “wheat”. Therefore, Vietnamese people use the word “Banh mi” for “bread”. However, I guess foreigners come to visit Vietnam and they study the word for Vietnamese-style sandwich as “Banh mi” only. So now I see that most of foreigners would call “Banh mi” as a food item of Vietnamese-style sandwich.

Banh mi could be stuffed with different fillings and depends on your favor such as Vietnamese pork ham (giò lụa/ chả lụa), Vietnamese pork floss (ruốc), Char siu (thịt xá xíu), creamy pate or omelet eggs etc. You name it. You could stuff your Banh mi with even more than 10 ingredients at a time or only one ingredient. If your banh mi only has pate than we called it “Banh mi pate”. Therefore, it’s not that hard to make your own Vietnamese-style sandwich at home. It’s okay to use only some ingredients that you have on hands. I’ll share with you some of the common ingredients that you should have to make your own Banh mi.

So first thing first, you’re gonna need a Vietnamese baguette. The key to a good Banh mi is, of course, the bread. Vietnamese baguette is very soft inside and when you have a bite of a good Banh mi, you should just feel the crunchy outside and the fillings. After trying a lot of different kinds of bread, I found that a Vietnamese baguette actually is a small-sized French bread.  I usually use Bollilo rolls to make Banh mi because I found that those rolls taste all most the same as Vietnamese baguette that I usually had in Vietnam. If you cannot find a small French bread or a Bollilo roll, you can use any kind of bread and take out some bread-crumb inside to mimic Vietnamese baguette. That way, you’ll have more room for your fillings.

The second thing that you’ll need to make a Vietnamese-style sandwich is Do Chua (Daikon pickles). As I told you, that’s a very important part of making Banh mi delicious and fresh. It takes no time to make it – the quickest and easiest of to make pickled stuffs. Here is the recipe in case you wanna check it out.

Other things you would need are cucumber, cilantro, butter, and your own meat product for your fillings. Today I’m gonna use Vietnamese pork ham  (gio lua/ cha lua) (let me know if you’d like to make it and I’ll share the recipe later), fried eggs, and creamy pork luncheon meat. So here is the process of making your own Vietnamese-style sandwich – Banh mi.

1. Ingredients: As discussed above, the quantity depends on how you like it so I’m gonna just list out things that you’ll need.

• 3 French breads or Bolillo rolls
• 3 Eggs
• Vietnamese pork ham (or your ham)
• Creamy pork luncheon meat (optional)
• Butter (to spread)
• Some cilantro
• Half of a cucumber
• Do chua (Daikon pickles) (Here is the recipe how to make it)
• Hot sauce (optional)

2. Process: Once you’ve got all your ingredients prepared, it only takes a few minutes to put everything together.

• Preheat your oven at 350 F (or 177 C)
• First, preheat your pan at med-hi heat and pour in ½ teaspoon of vegetable oil and fry the egg. Flip to the other side after about 45 – 60 seconds. Turn off the heat and let it sit there to finish cooking the second side.
  

  Fry the eggs as you like

• While frying the eggs, cut the bread open lengthwise (below picture) and spread the inside with butter and luncheon meat.
  

  Open the bread lengthwise and spread butter and luncheon meat

• Arrange all the breads into a baking sheet and put them in the preheated oven. Bake it for about 5 minutes or until the outside of the bread is crunchy and the butter and luncheon meat have been melted.
  

  Bake the breads in preheated oven for about 5 mins

• Here are all the ingredients that have been prepared while waiting to bake the breads. Slide the ham and cucumber thinly, prepare fried eggs, and cilantro.
  

  Prepare all the fillings

• Remove the breads from the oven and fill in one layer of Vietnamese ham (gio lua/ cha lua), one layer of cucumber and one fried eggs. Garnish with a pinch of salt, some do chua (daikon pickles), some cilantro and of course, your favorite hot sauce.
  

  Arrange in the hot bread a layer of ham, cucumber then fried egg

There you have it – your own Banh mi (Vietnamese-style sandwich). Serve immediately while it’s still hot. When you have a very hot Banh mi, you’ll feel the most fresh and flavorful sandwich ever. Not only the meat products in the fillings, but the do chua (daikon pickles), cucumber and cilantro all add something special that you can never forget.