Vietnamese sandwiches

 Homemade Vietnamese Sandwiches(Banh Mi)

Remembering my childhood. My family would drive to Massachusetts to buy Asian grocery. In Boston they had this Vietnamese sandwich shop in Chinatown. I don't know if it's still there. My family would buy these sandwiches and we would eat in the car heading back to Maine.

My husband has never tried these. So I thought why not make your own Vietnamese sandwiches. I couldn't go to the Asian market today but I made a grocery list with pictures of Asian products I need for my husband and that worked out brilliant because he came home with all the right stuff. He just gave the list to the Asian woman cashier and she just picked everything out from the list. He also got some of my favorite Asian drinks too. He told me that the cashier woman looked a bit confused when he chose the drinks because a lot of westerners/ Norwegians don't like them so much. He told her I have an Asian wife.

Anyways they came out delicious. Even my kids loved them. I was a bit shock because they are very picky with their food.

Ingredients:

1½ lbs boneless pork chops

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 stalk green onion, chopped

¼ cup lemon grass, minced

1 tablespoon tamarind paste

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 tablespoon vegetable oil, divided

2 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoon salt

Montreal seasoning

1 to 3 chopped fresh chili pepper (optional)

 

In a large bowl put your pork chops in and add garlic, green onion, tamarind paste, soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, oil, salt, pepper, seasoning, chili pepper and mix well with your hand. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear marinated pork chops in the hot oil. Cook on each side for about  3 to 5 minutes, until golden on the outside pour the rest of the marinade over the chops and add 1 tablespoon water. Cover with foil and bake in the oven to 375 degrees F for 15 minutes then remove foil and bake another 10 minutes until golden. The leftover marinade I cooked in a saucepan until thickens.

Slice cucumber, onions, and coriander. I also used chopped culantros and chopped green mint leaves.

Thin sliced carrots. I seasoned with 1 to 2 tablespoons of Japanese rice vinegar and 2 to 4 tablespoon sugar.

My pork marinade sauce.




Gio Bi you can find in the frozen section in any Asian market. I bought this while I was in Sweden.

My slice pork chops and sliced gio bi

To make the sandwich

Fresh bake baguettes, slit the side.

Drizzle one side with soy sauce and the other side spread mayonnaise.

Add slice pork meats and 2 slices of gio bi on the side with the drizzle soy sauce and drizzle pork marinade on pork meat.

Add slice cucumbers, onions, and vinaigrette carrots  chopped culantro and chopped green mint leaves and top with coriander leaves. Drizzle Thai hot sauce and enjoy.