For today’s recipe, we’ll make a delicious plant-based version of the famous bánh mì Việt Nam (“Vietnam-style bread”), one of the world’s greatest sandwiches. And we’ll do it using one amazing ingredient: pulled jackfruit!
What makes jackfruit such a famous pork replacement in vegan recipes?
Green jackfruit (AKA young jackfruit) has a “meaty” flesh with many threads. And when you pull these threads, you get something that looks just like pulled pork!
Plus, its neutral flavour means you can easily spice it up and adapt it to infinite recipes.
So, we made our Vietnamese banh mi rolls with pulled jackfruit instead of the classic shredded pork. And to get jackfruit to play the part, we seasoned it nicely with garlic, ginger, and spicy sriracha sauce.
As for the other ingredients, you’ll need the traditional accompanying vegetables:
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Pickled carrots, crunchy daikon, and fresh cucumber for stuffing;
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Chillies and cilantro for topping.
Besides the crusty baguette, Vietnamese banh mi also features two other French-derived ingredients: meat pate and egg mayo. But wait, why French? Aren’t we making a Vietnamese recipe?
Banh mi is basically a mash-up of Vietnamese and French cuisines, a result of French influence in Vietnam in the 1800s.
Take traditional French food, add a generous pinch of Vietnamese flair, and you get tasty things like banh mi and savoury pate chaud pastries!
In our vegan banh mi recipe, we skipped the pate and swapped egg mayo with vegan mayo. But if you want an even healthier alternative, you can prepare your homemade vegan mayo using cashews!
If after gulping down this fine banh mi you are left with some spare jackfruit, use it in one of these tasty recipes: jackfruit crab cakes, jackfruit biryani or jackfruit gyros.
Let’s get started!