Breakfast Banh Mi, Vietnamese Sandwich Recipe

It’s a breakfast you will get addicted to, a sandwich you will crave for breakfast, lunch ,dinner and whatever hunger stops come in between! No, I’m not exaggerating. You can imagine biting into toasted bread, slathered with chilli mayonnaise, layers of crunchy, tangy pickles, crispy fried meat and oozing egg yolk to flood the whole experience with creamy, warm goodness. To top everything the umami flavours and fresh herbs and green chilli peppers in each bite.

‘Banh Mi’ is a popular Vietnamese sandwich recipe that literally means wheat bread. The long baked loaf or baguette was introduced by the French during colonial era. Typically, Banh Mi is a meat stuffed sandwich that uses cold cuts of meat with a variety of condiments.

Mixed with local ingredients and flavours, Banh Mi has become a unique and delicious blend of east and west. Baguettes, pate and mayonnaise are the French ingredients but pickles ‘Do Chua’ added to the sandwich are essentially a Vietnamese touch and so easy to make at home. I would recommend to make a big jar and keep handy for all sorts of roll, wraps and sandwiches.

Breakfast Banh Mi includes fried or scrambled eggs as the star ingredient and is drizzled with soy sauce for an umami boost. I use chicken and turkey sausages or pepperoni for the meat filling and fry it crisp before adding to the sandwich. You can even use left over roast, shred and fry it crispy for extra oomph.

The chilli mayo is another important component of the sandwich, I quickly make some by mixing mayonnaise and any chilli/hot sauce readily available in my pantry, from Chinese style hot sauce to the Thai sriracha.

If you don’t have baguettes or hoagies, you can go for any soft sub style bun with a thin crust, to make this Vietnamese Sandwich Recipe. There is really no excuse for missing this crispy, fatty, salty, spicy, sweet bliss of a sandwich!

For Banh Mi sandwich:
4 hoagies, subs or long bread buns
8 eggs
8 slices chicken or turkey salami
Olive or sunflower oil for shallow frying
A small bunch coriander leaves
Soy sauce
2 green chilli peppers

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons any hot sauce
1 teaspoon red chilli flakes

1 carrot
1 daikon/mooli or a radish
1 cucumber
1 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Peel and cut carrot and daikon into thin strips. Bring water to a boil in a small sauce pan. Add carrot and daikon strips, sugar, salt and vinegar.

Cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and leave in the pickle water to cool down. Set aside till you prepare the other ingredients. It’s better to prepare the pickle 2 days or at least a night before for more flavour.

Slice cucumber into thin, long slices, the whole length of the bread bun.

Mix all the chilli mayonnaise ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate till required.

Cut the sandwich buns into halves and lightly toast. Set aside.

Heat a little oil in the frying pan. Crispy fry the pepperoni pieces. Set aside.

In the same pan add a little more oil and fry eggs, one or two at a time. Fry on medium high heat so that the egg whites have crispy edges and the yolks are still soft and runny.

To assemble the sandwich, spread chilli mayonnaise on the inside of buns.

Put salami on one part of the bun, generously top it with the pickled carrots, daikon and cucumber.

Neatly place two fried eggs side by side on the bun.

Top the the eggs with fresh coriander leaves and chopped green chilli peppers.

Drizzle a little soy sauce. Cover with the other half of the bun.

Repeat with the other sandwiches.

Serve warm.

Serves 4