Next time, I will buy a big slab of pork belly and slice it myself. I bought the thinly sliced ones, which was good but not as tasty as having huge chunks of pork belly goodness in each bite. The most time consuming aspect of this recipe was chopping and pickling radish and carrots. I pickled everything the night before so that I could focus on braising the pork belly on the day of the bridal shower.

I called them “sliders” though they do not fit the technical term of “sliders.” I just cut them into pieces and inserted toothpicks to make it easier to grab. Also, I had a lot of help from my mom and Dan. I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off without their help – so thanks!

Recipe: Pork Belly Banh Mi Sandwiches
Makes 2 slightly bigger than foot-long sandwiches

Ingredients:

For the sandwich:

2 fresh baguettes, sliced in half lengthwise (I got mine from La Pain Quotodien)
3 cups of carrots, julienne
3 cups of white radish, julienne
2 Korean cucumbers, 1″ sliced at an angle
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of white vinegar
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons of mayo
2 teaspoons of sriracha sauce
2 teaspoons of hoisin sauce
Sliced jalapenos (optional)

For the pork belly:

1 pound of sliced pork belly
3 shallots, sliced
8-10 pieces of whole peppercorns
1 teaspoon of canola oil
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1/2 cup of water

Procedure:

1. In a small pot, bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add sugar. Set aside.

2. Chop carrots and radish into thin strips.

3. Place radish and carrots in 2 separate bowls with lids. Once mixture has cooled, pour half of mixture into each container.  Add vinegar. Mix thoroughly until liquid is incorporated. Cover and refrigerate.

4. In a dutch oven (or heavy bottomed pot with lid) add garlic and shallots with 1 teaspoon of canola oil (if necessary) over medium high heat until fragrant. Keep the shallot and garlic in there.

5. Over high heat, add pieces of pork belly until browned. Flip and cook the other side. Transfer cooked pork belly to a plate and cook the rest in batches.

6. Add cooked pork belly back into the pot. Add sugar, peppercorns, and fish sauce.

7. Add 1/2 cup of water. Cover and cook on low heat for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Always keep about 1/2″ of water on the bottom.

8. When ready, assemble sandwich in any order you wish!

I had a couple of friends over for dinner, and one of them suggested that we make BanhMi. While we were assembling our sandwiches, they kept referring to themselves by L and S, trying to predict what I would write in this post. And just because of that, I’m going to say their names.

So Liz was gracious enough to pick up some bauguetts for us from Almondine Bakery in Brooklyn. I’m so happy that she did because this baguette was frickin’ amazing! It was perfectly buttery, chewy yet soft on the inside! So delicious!

What was not perfect, however, was the pork. I was afraid that it wasn’t the right cut of meat, but it is all I had access to. If I make this again, I will definitely go elsewhere for a thinner cut of pork. For a pound of pork shoulder, I added 2 tbs of fish sauce, 2 tbs of sugar, and 5 cloves of minced garlic to marinate overnight. Then I cooked it until well done.

The carrot and radish are supposed to be matchstick thin. Forgive me; I got lazy! The cucumbers should be pickled a few hour beforehand, just because it gets discolored easily and has a lot more water content than the other vegetables. I salted the sliced vegetables, to drain it of its juices. Rinsed and squeezed out the water. Then threw a splash of vinegar and a sprinkle of sugar to all of the vegetables and let it sit overnight (see a theme here?). I also added ribbons of red leaf lettuce and fresh cilantro.

Feel free to adjust to your own condiment preferences, but I loooove them all. Here is Hoisin sauce, mayo mixed with fish roe, and Sriracha sauce. They were so fat that it was hard to eat!

We all made fun of Liz’s sandwich cuz it was soo green:

Susan’s sandwich, cilantro-free(she says when she asks for no cilantro at the Bahn Mi place, and the writes “no SLT” on her sandwich!!!):

Here is my sandwich, fully stuffed and ready to be devoured:

Then I decided to make a Vietnamese rice noodle bowl by adding noodles to the ingredients and a little bit of fish sauce for another meal the next day. Super delicious!

Just so you know, we had dessert as well. But that will be another post for another day.

Why is the chicken shaking? Yea, I don’t know either.

The original dish is actually called shaking beef, or Bo Luc Luc, which is a wildly popular Vietnamese dish. The name comes from the act of shaking the beef to get all the flavors to intermingle.

Since my version of this dish was quite far from the original, I think it’s more appropriate to name it Drunken Chicken. I will try making the real dish next time, with the proper ingredients.

I was just excited about making some flavorful and juicy chicken for a change since I had discovered the magic of brining. Brining keeps the meat from getting dried out in the process. The only thing that would keep me from brining every poultry imaginable is that it probably isn’t that good for you.

The combination of the flavors were unexpectedly good! It was sweet yet  salty, while the vinegar added a smooth, acidic flavor.

Vietnamese food became very popular in Korea a few years ago, and now there are a bunch of Vietnamese restaurants that are Korean owned. I think the tastes do vary, as every cuisine does, according to its new culture. I’m no expert but I do know when I like something!

Summer rolls are yummy. I like the contrast between the crunchy texture of the cucumbers and lettuce against the chewiness of the wrap. I’m a huge fan of sauces, so it’s even better when you can dip it in three different kinds. It’s an excuse for me to eat sauce. YES!

Sriacha, peanut and fish sauce (I added bell peppers). Sorry I forgot to take a picture until I was finished eating.

These rolls are usually much bigger, filled with mint, lettuce and rice noodles. I had none of those things on hand but really wanted to eat it so I just stuck to what I had (crab legs, cucumber, avocado and apples).

Recipe: Vietnamese Summer Rolls
Makes 8 rolls

Ingredients:

8 pieces of Vietnamese rice paper
12 boiled pieces of shrimp, deveined and deshelled
8 crab legs, taken out of wrapper
1/2 of a kirby cucumber, cut into strips
1/2 avocado, cut into strips
1/3 of a Fuji apple
1/3 cup of shredded lettuce
6 oz. of boiled rice noodles (adjust to preference)
Few pieces of mint

Procedure:

1. Fill a large frying pan with 1 cup of water over high heat. Make sure it’s big enough to immerse the rice wraps fully in water. When the water boils, remove from heat.

2. Immerse rice paper in water for about 40 seconds or so. When the rice paper is tender, pull out one side with a chopstick then use both hands to hold the wraps steady, and remove from water. Make sure to keep the wrap separate because it will stick to each other and break! You might have to turn the heat back on after 3-4 wraps since the water will cool.

(I always burn my fingers or manage to ruin the wrap. Oops. I don’t know if there is a special trick….. if you know of one, please let us know in the comments! Some people will dip the wrap in a cold water bath immediately after but I find that it cools down the wrap too quickly and makes it tough.)

3. Lay wrap flat on a plate. Add ingredients. Fold one side in, then the edges, and roll.

4. Dip in dipping sauce and enjoy!

I just leave the ingredients in a container in the fridge and cook the rice paper for another bunch of rolls. You can even lay out the ingredients on a huge plate and have people make their own. I know of a Pho restaurant where you can do just that. They also give you pineapples and pork to add to your roll.

By the way, I just had the best Vietnamese food in San Francisco. More on that later!