Pork soboro baguette sandwich uses Vietnamese fish sauce and lemongrass for a refreshing twist. Photo: The Japan News
Chef
Masumi Suzuki, who specialises in Vietnamese cuisine, shared her recipe with
The Yomiuri Shimbun. It makes a tasty and filling meal just right for a picnic.
In
Vietnam, it is common for people to buy baguette sandwiches at street food
stands on the way to work or school. Ingredients used for the sandwiches are
different depending on the area or food stands. Rolled omelette is popular in
the north while meatballs and liver paste are often used in the south.
"One
of the characteristics of these sandwiches is having a strong flavour," Ms
Suzuki said. "It also means using a large amount of vegetables."
The
main ingredient of the recipe included here is ground pork soboro. The recipe
uses nuoc mam (Vietnamese fish sauce) and a simply named "seasoning
sauce" similar to soy sauce on the ground pork. If you do not have those
on hand, substitute nam pla (fermented fish sauce) and soy sauce. Lemongrass is
also added for a refreshing twist on the sandwich.
Vegetables
used for the sandwich include namasu (a salad of julienned daikon radish and
carrot lightly pickled in sweetened vinegar), cucumber and fresh coriander - an
herb also known as cilantro or pakuchi.
"Since
the pork soboro has such a strong taste, the sourness of namasu and the flavour
of fresh coriander will give a good balance to the dish," Ms Suzuki said.
Ms
Suzuki used a corrugated kitchen knife to cut daikon radish and carrots into
thick sticks with wavy edges.
"This
type of kitchen knife is often used in Vietnam," she said. "Serrated
vegetables look good and mix well with sweetened vinegar." Sprinkle salt
over the vegetables to remove excess water, then rinse the salt off from them.
The vegetables will be too salty if you only squeeze the water out.
Choose
a soft baguette to make the sandwich easy to eat.
When
eating the sandwich, the combination of the savoury taste of the ground meat,
refreshing flavours of namasu and cucumber, and the flavours of the lemongrass
and other ingredients fill the mouth. With a good balance of ingredients, one
may feel quite satisfied with this sandwich all on its own.
PORK SOBORO BAGUETTE SANDWICH
Ingredients
- Two
20cm baguettes
- 1/2
cucumber
- 6
stems fresh coriander
- Mint
leaves and mayonnaise to taste
- Black
pepper
- 150g
daikon radish
- 50g
carrot
- 2
Tbs sugar
- 21/2
Tbsps vinegar
- 2/3
Tbsp nuoc mam
- 200g
ground pork
- 20g
lemongrass (white part)
- 30g
onion
- 1/2
clove garlic
- 1
Tbsp nuoc mam
- 1
Tbsp seasoning sauce
- 1
Tbsp sugar
- 1
Tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
- 2/3
tsp doubanjiang (chilli bean sauce) chilli paste
Method
1. To make namasu, peel the daikon
radish and carrot and cut into thick strips 5 cm long. Sprinkle a teaspoon of
salt over them and leave them until they soften. Wash the vegetables in water
and squeeze out excess water.
2. Put 2 1/2 Tbsps of water and 2
Tbsps of sugar in a pot and heat it. When the sugar dissolves, turn off the
heat and let the ingredients cool until mixture is lukewarm. Add vinegar and
nuoc mam and mix the ingredients to make a sauce. Soak the vegetables from Step
1 in the sauce and marinate for two or three hours.
3. To make pork soboro, cut
lemongrass into round slices and then chop finely. Mince onion and garlic and
mix them with lemongrass and ground meat and remaining seasonings in a bowl.
Stir fry in a pan with 1/2 Tbsp of cooking oil over medium heat until cooked
through.
4. Heat the baguettes in an oven for
one or two minutes. Cut open and spread mayonnaise over cut surface. Cover bottom
half of the baguette with soboro pork and add diagonally cut slices of
cucumber, namasu, 1-cm pieces of fresh coriander and mint leaves, in this
order, and sprinkle black pepper over it all.
Lemongrass
oil
Chopped
lemongrass can be used for various dishes. For example, a fish sprinkled with
salt and chopped lemongrass will take on an Asian flair. Chef Masumi Suzuki
recommended "lemongrass oil," cooking oil heated in a pan with an
equal amount of lemongrass until it becomes lightly browned.
"You
can use the oil to stir fry vegetables and rice," Ms Suzuki said.
Frozen
chopped lemongrass can be stored for two or three weeks, and the oil can be
stored for about a week at room temperature, according to Suzuki.
Serves two
By Straitstimes