Homemade pork belly “Bang Me” bánh mì (Vietnamese roll)
This could be seen as a traditional banh mi, but my version has a bread roll so crusty you need to lay down a mat, smeared with chicken and pork pate, kewpie mayo, barbecued melt in the mouth pork belly, pickled carrot, green or spring onion, coriander/cilantro, a dash of fresh chillies and drizzle of Maggi Original seasoning.
Why do I call it Bang Me Banh Mì you ask? Because you will wanna bang me after trying my banh mì it’s that good!
Banh Mi 'Aussie Edition' (Vietnamese sandwich)
1
48 hours
180 minutes
554
Vietnamese
Lunch
You DON'T need to venture far and wide into your Vietnamese neighbourhood for the best Banh Mi/Vietnamese sandwich. We can all agree that the Vietnamese produce some of the most flavour packed food on the planet, and re-creating it in your own home is super rewarding. The best bit is that everything in this recipe can be purchased at your local supermarket! 🏪
🧑🏽🍳
Ingredients
blank
1/4 cup white sugar
2x medium sized carrots (more for later) and equal parts daikon
1.5 cups boiled water
3/4 cup white vinegar or rice wine vinegar
8 black peppercorns
4 tsp table salt
blank
1kg Pork Belly (plenty for more rolls!)
2 tbsp Oz Dirt rub/seasoning
blank
Crusty Vietnamese Baguette or soft hot dog roll from Coles (more info in directions). A traditional banh mi roll from a Vietnamese bakery is always the preferred option. You could try making your own too! I have a video on YouTube for Bahn Mi roll recipe
1 tbsp Maggi Beer chicken liver pate, or the tinned French stuff from your local Asian grocery store
1 tbsp Kewpie mayonnaise or my homemade Viet mayo/butter (see video on TikTok)
1 slice of spring onion (length of roll)
2 slices of cucumber (length of roll)
5-6 slices of red chilli
1 tsp Maggi Original seasoning
10 coriander/cilantro leaves
Directions
blank
Julienne your carrots with a chefs knife or use a mandolin if you don't trust your knife skills.
Place your boiling water, sugar, salt, vinegar and peppercorns into your container and stir until sugar and salt has dissolved.
Then add your carrots to the pickling solution and store in the fridge for 4-24 hours to get maximum flavour.
blank
Salt skin and air dry on a rack in the fridge for 1-2 days. Salt should be 0.5-cm thick. This will draw out moisture in the skin and ensure crispy skin.
Remove all salt from skin with boiling water, then pat dry.
Season meat side with an even coating of Oz Dirt. This will be approx 1-2 tbsp/kg.
Pre-heat your BBQ or oven to 450F/230C. Place your pork belly on an angled roasting rack, as this will prevent liquid pooling on the skin and ruining the crackling.
Once the crackle has started to form, reduce the heat down to 300F/150C and cook for a further two or so hours, or until you can push a skewer through the meat side with little resistance.
To have the true Vietnamese roll experience you want a crusty baguette that spills crumbs all over your lap!! if you can't snag a French baguette, the soft hot dog rolls from Coles will suffice. Just pop them into your oven, airfryer or barbecue for 10 mins until crunchy.
Rest the belly for approx 30 mins. Resting will allow the moisture content to distribute throughout the pork belly and produce a better end result.
Slice up the belly into 1cm thick slices, and smash back a few for quality assurance purposes.
blank
Onto the easy part. Slice the roll down the centre, but be careful not to slice all the way through.
Then spread the kewpie mayo and pate inside the roll, then 4-5 slices of that melt in the mouth pork belly, cucumber, spring onion, coriander and chilli.
Lastly a few splashes of the Maggi Original sauce (like the asian version of worcestishire)
blank
If you want to beef up the flavour of the pork, adding either a home made hoisin sauce or store bought is a flavour grenade. If I’m saucing the pork I will brush the hoisin over the meat side just before it’s finished cooking. That way the sauce will start to tack up and adhere to the meat.
3 comments
I was expecting this to be pretty good but the end result was fantastic! Many thanks to ye my friend and shout out to the alpha blokes for having ya on the podcast great episode that🤙
Love ya work mate keep it up 😁
This recipe is a must!! Simple but delicious. Great for work lunches!!