Banh Mi Thit

Banh Mi made with crunchy long roll

Banh Mi Thit or Vietnamese Sandwich/Pork Roll is a traditional Vietnamese street sandwich usually made with a toasted crunchy long roll. The usual fillings that you would find in the sandwich are thinly sliced carrots or pickled carrots and daikons, onions, cucumbers and peppers. Other fillings are either grilled or roast pork, pork roll ham (chả lụa) and liver paste/mayonnaise.

You can find these ingredients at your local Asian Market. If you are residing in Brisbane QLD, Australia you can find these Asian grocers at Inala or Sunnybank. They supply everything from kim chi to roast duck. Or if you are finding a place that sells Banh Mi Thit - I recommend Ba Minh at Darra and Inala. She has been making the best rolls however she doesn't fill them up as she used to. They cost about $3.50 for a roll.

The photos I took are about 3 years old. I used to work at a local bakery and I usually went home with free baguettes/french sticks and long rolls. This is my version of Banh Mi Thit. Since I did not have all of the ingredients I substituted it with other ingredients so it is not very traditional. It looked impressive tasted magnificent at the end.


Annn Tran's Aussie Banh Mi Thit







French stick and other ingredients


Ingredients:

• 4 crunchy long rolls or 1 long french stick cut into 4 (a bit smaller but you have more filling)
• pinch of pepper/salt to taste
• 1 onion sauteed or fried (however you like)
• 1 clove of garlic crushed
• slices of fried bacon
• 1/2 cup of rice vinegar or plain white vinegar
• 1 to 2 carrots grated or pickled carrot
• 1 cucumber sliced (as pictured above)
• sliced pork roll ham/cha lua (as pictured above)
• cilantro
• margarine
• mayonnaise
• soy sauce and chili sauce to taste

Method

In a pan, saute the onions, garlic and pepper/salt until fragrant and put aside.

In the same pan fry the strips of bacon until crispy and brown and put aside.

If you don't have the pickled stuff already, grate the carrots and place it in a small bowl and cover it with the vinegar. This will give a pickle flavour. Then cut the cucumber into strips.

Heat the long rolls up in an oven or a toaster until warm. If you don't have this I just use a sandwich maker. It does the same trick. Slice the the long rolls down in the middle and spread the margarine or butter onto both sides.

Finally put in all the ingredients in - first the cooked onions and garlic, cucumber, pickled carrots, cilantro and the bacon and pork roll ham and then drizzle with soy sauce and chili sauce. Yum! It is not the traditional style but this one is good enough for me!



(updated: 20/01/2010) WHERE in Brisbane QLD:

In brisbane you can get banh me thit at:

Minh Tan Bakery inside the Inala civic centre across from Suncorp

Bun Me outside the Inala Civic Shop....right next to the art gallery

Ba Minh at Darra Station takeaway shop

Vietnamese bakery on the Brunswick St Mall Fortitude Valley.