Banh Mi

Do you like sandwiches? And spicy food? Hey, me too! Let's be cool Internet friends!

The January issue of Bon Appetit featured two of my favorite foodstuffs: meatballs and sriracha. Sriracha, if you've never encountered it, is a hot chili sauce. Meatballs are balls of meat. But you probably knew that one.

Every week, we plan out what we're going to eat for dinner every day. This week, John had us making a meatball soup, but I said fuck that noise. I wanted a meatball sandwich.

So we made banh mis! Banh miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis! So goooooooooooooooooooood! So spicyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! You will need to drink so much miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilk!

Lemme just preface this recipe by saying that it takes a long time. Not a tremondously long time, but I used my MLK holiday to first make the mayo, then the slaw, then form the meatballs. There's a lot of chopping in this recipe. Be prepared. And then cook it, and be full. Oh, and the mayo is incredibly spicy. I had to drink 3 glasses of milk while I ate this sandwich.

Pork Meatball Banh Mi

Hot Chili Mayo

• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 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

• *Available in the Asian foods section of many supermarkets and at Asian markets.
• **Available at some supermarkets and at Asian markets.

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 tops.