The Bahn Mi has garnered quite a bit of attention lately in the press (e.g., cover of NYT dining section 2 weeks ago). We are getting ready to demo our vegetarian version for Isthmus' Green Day event this Saturday, April 25th, at 4 p.m.
What IS a Bahn (or Banh) Mi? Bahn Mi are Vietnamese sandwiches served on a baguette. They are hybridized French-Vietnamese street food. While the ingredients of the sandwich vary widely and, now, wildly, the essentials seem to be: mayonnaise, crusty baguette, daikon/carrot pickle (do chua), and cilantro. Add to that many, many different things: hot peppers, ham, beef, pork, pork paste, cucumber, tofu, egg, mushroom, eggplant, on and on. This is what makes this sandwich the perfect Farmer's Market food! With the basics readily available (daikon is available at the Willy St. Coop & Woodman's, as well as the huge variety of Asian food marts here in Madison on Park St. and a new one on Monona Drive) the possibilities for extreme tastiness stretch to the horizon. I saw a lemongrass-tofu recipe while searching the net and I'm almost convinced to change our tofu marinade.
I'm beginning to come around to changing up our bahn meatless a bit if the season allows...I also saw an eggplant recipe that made my mouth water. Chay means vegetarian, BTW. We are looking forward to a great Farmer's Market season and some really nice loaded boxes from Driftless Organics. Here's hoping folks are interested in learning about this sandwich and seeing how it is put together...
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