Banh Mi
This recipe has two components, pickled vegetables and baked sesame tofu, that go into the final sandwich. It is very tolerant to measuring loosely, timing poorly, or using different or fewer ingredients---some ingredients have been marked non-critical that can be hard to get on short notice or you might not use often enough to keep around.
Pickled Vegetables
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup shredded carrots
- 3/4 cup thinly sliced Persian, Kirby or European cucumbers
- 1/2 cup shredded daikon radish [non-critical]
- 2 tbsp unseasoned rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Toss together the carrots, cucumbers, radish, vinegar, sugar, and salt, and let stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Original recipe.
Baked Sesame Tofu
Ingredients
- 16 oz extra firm tofu, cut into thin 1” slabs
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp maple syrup [non-critical]
- (Very) Optional: 1 tsp sriracha sauce (in original recipe but I do not include)
- Pinch of garlic powder [non-critical]
- Pinch of onion powder [non-critical]
- Pinch of sea salt
Press the tofu for at least 30 minutes beforehand (can be longer) to lower its water content.
- No-tools method: Wrap the uncut block in a paper towel and place it between two plates on a counter or table, then stack heavy weights on the top plate and let it sit.
- Fancy method: Use a tofu press (I use this one).
When ready to cook, wrap the tofu in a new paper towel for a moment to wipe off remaining water.
Make the sauce by whisking together in a shallow dish all the ingredients except for the tofu.
Then cook the tofu.
- Baking method: Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Drench each piece of tofu in the sauce and lay flat on the baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping each piece of tofu midway through.
- Alternate frying method: Heat olive oil in a skillet. Carefully put the tofu slices in and cover the pan. Cook for 5ish minutes until browned on the bottom. Then flip the slices over and brown the other side. At this time also pour in and spread around the sauce and let the tofu cook in it.
Original recipe.
Sandwich
Ingredients
Once everything else is prepared, very lightly toast hoagie rolls in oven or toaster oven for a few minutes. Then fill with the tofu slices and pickled vegetables and serve!