Banh mi is one of those sandwiches that looks haphazard and is anything but. Liver pâté, mayonnaise, pickled vegetables, coriander and chilli in the same bread sounds like a jumble, but the balance is carefully judged.
The bread is not a French baguette
This is where most attempts at home go wrong. The Vietnamese baguette has a thin, brittle crust and a pale, airy, almost hollow interior, and it often contains rice flour as well as wheat flour. The practice arose during the First World War, when wheat imports faltered and bakers eked out the dough with cheaper rice flour, which at the same time made the bread lighter.
The consequence is a practical one. A heavy French artisan loaf with a chewy crumb takes over the whole sandwich, soaks up the sauce and scrapes the roof of your mouth. If you cannot find Vietnamese bread, choose the lightest baguette you can get hold of, and pull out some of the crumb before you fill it.
Ingredients for two sandwiches
- 2 light baguettes
- 100 g liver pâté
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp soy-based seasoning sauce, in Vietnam often Maggi
- 200 g grilled pork or cooked ham
- 1 cucumber, 1 handful of coriander and 1 to 2 red chillies
For the do chua, the pickled vegetables: 150 g daikon, 150 g carrot, 100 ml white vinegar, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt and 200 ml water.
Method
- Cut the daikon and carrot into matchstick-thin batons. Scatter over the salt and a tablespoon of the sugar, knead for two minutes until the batons turn soft and pliable, and rinse them off.
- Mix the vinegar, the rest of the sugar and the water until the sugar has dissolved. Add the vegetables and leave them for at least an hour.
- Warm the baguettes for four to five minutes at 200°C, so the crust turns brittle again. Let them cool for a couple of minutes.
- Slit the bread lengthways without cutting all the way through, and pull out some of the crumb if the bread is heavy.
- Spread liver pâté on one side and mayonnaise on the other. Shake a few drops of seasoning sauce over.
- Add the meat, well-drained do chua, cucumber, coriander and chilli. Press it together and cut it in two.
Frequently asked questions
What does banh mi mean?
Banh mi simply means bread in Vietnamese. In Vietnam you ask for banh mi thit to get the sandwich itself. Outside Vietnam the word has stuck as the name of the sandwich.
Which bread should I use?
A Vietnamese baguette if you can find one. Otherwise the lightest, thinnest-crusted baguette you can get hold of. If the bread is heavy, pull out some of the crumb.
What is do chua?
The pickled daikon and carrot. They provide the acidity and the crunch, and they keep the liver pâté and mayonnaise from sitting too heavily. Without them the sandwich collapses in terms of flavour.
Can I make banh mi without meat?
Yes. Tofu fried in soy sauce, or mushrooms fried hard in a dry pan, works well. Keep the do chua, coriander and chilli, or you lose what holds the dish up.
How to find the ingredients
The seasoning sauce sits under Maggi, vinegar for the pickling under vinegar, and chilli under hot sauce. The rest of the Vietnamese range is in Asian sauces. If you want to cook more Vietnamese food, we have recipes for pho and rice paper spring rolls. If you are unsure about the bottles, see the guide to fish sauce.
