My hubby and I love ethnic flavors so this recipe appealed to us right away and has been in the wings waiting to be made for several months. Yesterday was the day and a perfect one at that! After a long bike ride on the beautiful river trail near our house, we kicked back to enjoy the sun and a great dinner al fresco, which included these sandwiches along with the pickled daikon radish and carrots ~ don’t leave them out, they are integral to the hot, sour, salty, sweet flavor experience. And don’t leave out the fish sauce, it adds that umami that our aging tastebuds are searching for, you won’t notice it as fishy in the finished meatballs.
I opted for roasting the meatballs in the oven so they could cook unattended, 350 for approximately 25-30 minutes depending on how large you form the meatballs.
BON APPÉTIT
Pork Meatball Banh Mi Sandwiches
Makes 4 sandwiches
Hot Chili Mayo:
•2/3 cup mayonnaise (Hellman’s)
•2 green onions, finely chopped
•1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)*
Meatballs:
•1 pound ground pork
•1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
•4 garlic cloves, minced
•3 green onions, finely chopped
•1 tablespoon fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)*
•1 tablespoon hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)
•1 tablespoon sugar
•2 teaspoons cornstarch
•1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
•1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Sandwiches:
•2 cups coarsely grated carrots
•2 cups coarsely grated peeled daikon (Japanese white radish)**
•1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
•1/4 cup sugar
•1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
•1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
•4 10-inch-long individual baguettes or four 10-inch-long pieces French-bread baguette (cut from 2 baguettes)
•Thinly sliced jalapeño chiles
•16 large fresh cilantro sprigs
preparation
Hot Chili Mayo:
Stir all ingredients in small bowl. Season with salt. do ahead Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
Meatballs:
Line rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap. Gently mix all ingredients in large bowl. Using moistened hands and scant tablespoonful for each, roll meat mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Arrange on baking sheet. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
Sandwiches:
Toss first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour, tossing occasionally.
Preheat oven to 300°F. Heat sesame oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of meatballs. Sauté until brown and cooked through, turning meatballs often and lowering heat if browning too quickly, about 15 minutes. Transfer meatballs to another rimmed baking sheet. Place in oven. Repeat with remaining meatballs.
Cut each baguette or baguette piece horizontally in half. Pull out enough bread from each bread half to leave 1/2-inch-thick shell. Spread hot chili mayo over each bread shell. Arrange jalapeños, then cilantro, in bottom halves. Fill each with 1/4 of meatballs. Drain pickled vegetables; place atop meatballs. Press on baguette top.
This pickled salad looks gorgeous in a canning jar and allows you to flip it over and marinate all the vegetables in case they are not completely submerged, mine were not.
Pickled Daikon Radish and Carrots
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 small carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 daikon radish, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 Thai chile pepper, seeded and chopped (I used Jalapeños since I grow them)
Heat vinegar and sugar in the microwave until sugar is dissolved, set aside to cool slightly. Place daikon and carrot in a glass jar with the cilantro and chile peppers. Pour the cooled vinegar mixture over, submerging the vegetables. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
Leave a Reply