Banh Mi

So, I was looking a few weeks ago at an Austin Chronicle article on the best Banh Mi in Austin and I thought, "What the heck is banh mi?" Turns out that banh mi is a Vietnamese sandwich and it sounded delicious. I had yet to try out one of the recommendations made by the Chronicle when I happened across this Epicurious article on fast weekday cooking and a recipe for banh mi. It is surprisingly easy.

You'll need:
A 24-baguette or french bread
Sugar
Rice wine vinegar
Coleslaw mix with carrots. The Epicurious recipe calls for using daikon and carrots and slicing them in the food processor. The daikon at the store was about 3 pounds worth and I knew we'd never eat it. So, I bought the coleslaw mix. It worked great.
Some cooked chicken - buy a rotisserie chicken at the store or use some left-overs
Fish sauce
Soy sauce
Veggie oil
Liverwurst. Yes, liverwurst. Banh mi calls for using a sort of pork pate. But this is a quick substitute.
A couple of jalapenos
A sweet onion
Lettuce
Parsley or cilantro
Mayo

Here's what you do. In a large bowl, mix up upto a 1/2 cup of vinegar with a tablespoon of sugar until the sugar dissolves. Throw in the coleslaw mix and give it a stir. Let that sit for 15 minutes or so, giving it a stir now and then. Meanwhile, turn on the oven and put the bread in to get it crunchy. Chop the onion into thin slices; chop just enough to make a layer on the bread. Chop the jalapenos into thin slices; get rid of the seeds. Mix together a couple of teaspoons of fish sauce, veggie oil and soy sauce. When the bread is ready, cut it in half lengthwise. Brush both sides of the bread with the fish/soy sauce. After the slaw is ready, drain it. Spread the liverwurst on the bottom layer of the bread, then the onion slices, jalapenos, parsley/cilantro, chicken, slaw, and lettuce. Slap some mayo on the top piece of bread and put 'em together and you have an improvised banh mi.

This will feed like 4 people. The left-overs are delicious.