Bánh mì By Mark Bittman

Makes: 4 servings

Time: 30 minutes

Bánh mì — a Vietnamese-style hoagie — is often a complicated affair with different components. Here it’s pared down to the absolute essentials: pork and pickled vegetables. Pretty cool for 30 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 small daikon radish or 4 small regular red radishes

• 1 large carrot

• 1 small cucumber

• Salt

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 1-inch fresh ginger

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 tablespoon peanut oil

• 1 pound ground pork

• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

• 2 teaspoons Sriracha, or more to taste

• 4 hard sub rolls

• Several sprigs fresh cilantro

Instructions

1. Trim and peel the daikon or 4 small radishes, carrot, and cucumber. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. If you’re using a food processor for grating, cut the vegetables into chunks that will fit through the feed tube. Shred them by machine or by hand on a box grater. Put the vegetables in a colander in the sink; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt and 3 tablespoons sugar, and toss. Let sit.

2. Put a large skillet over medium-high heat. Peel and mince 1-inch ginger and 1 garlic clove. Add 1 tablespoon peanut oil to the skillet along with the ginger and garlic. After a quick stir, add the ground pork; let it brown in the pan, 2 or 3 minutes. 

3. Add 1 tablespoon each fish sauce and soy sauce to the pork. Stir and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes. When the pork is fully cooked, remove the pan from the heat.

4. Turn the broiler to high; put the rack 6 inches from the heat. While it heats, stir together 1/2 cup mayonnaise and 2 teaspoons Sriracha in a small bowl. Split the sub rolls open and broil them until lightly toasted, 1 to 3 minutes. When the sub rolls are toasted, remove them from the broiler; spread with Sriracha mayonnaise.

5. By now, the shredded vegetables will have released some water; squeeze out the water through the colander. Divide the vegetables among the sub rolls. Lay the pork on top of the shredded vegetables. Top with several cilantro sprigs (stems and all) and serve.

Tofu Banh Mi
Skip the ground pork. (If you also skip the fish sauce and use eggless mayo, this becomes vegan.) In step 2, crumble 1 ½ pounds (1 ½ blocks) firm for extra-firm tofu into the skillet. Cook, stirring, and scraping the bottom of the skillet occasionally, and adjusting the heat as necessary, until the tofu browns and crisps as much or as little as you like it, anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about a minute, then stir in the fish sauce and soy sauce. Proceed with the recipe.