Vietnamese Banh mi Chay and an Award. Yaaay !

This Sandwich is currently my favourite sandwich. I saw the recipe for this sandwich on Delhi belle's blog and I was instantly tempted to try this out.

I was curious about this particular bahn mi from the time i saw the food network show "The great food truck race" or something and they had this truck called "Nom Nom truck" which sold these sandwiches. It was a hot cake and that truck always came first in the truck to the do the most bussiness... hmm. I was very curious to see how a simple sandwich can beat grilled burger and cheese sandwich and other yummy trucks... hmm.. Btw they didn't win the tv show... they were runner ups though..:). The truck runs in LA and sells awesome veg n non-veg sandwiches. My recipe here is a Vegetarian one..:)

Anyway coming back to the recipe. When I saw this on Delhi belle's blog I had to try it immidiately. Me n R being sandwich lovers it wasnt difficult to convince him about having this for dinner..:)

Here is the original recipe. I will be anyways putting up the recipe again here.I didnt make much changes other than the tofu marinate as I didnt have lemongrass at hand.Also I want to thank Priya of Mharo rajasthan for motivating me to post this recipe with her awesome event "Bookmarked recipes - Every Tuesdays" . I am sending this recipe to that event..:)

Ingredients for sweet n sour pickle :

Carrot julliened - 1 cup
Daikon radish (mooli) julliened - 1 cup
Vinegar - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
water - 2 cups

Marinated & flavoured tofu :

Firm tofu - 100 gms (8 slices 1 cm thick)
Mexican season powder (spicy fruit salt) - 2 tbsp (if u dont have this u can mix salt,sugar & red chilli powder )
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tsp
chopped Garlic / paste - 2 tsp
Soy sauce - 2 tsp (optional)
Black Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Other Ingredients :

French (wheat) Baguette - 1
Mayonaise / Veganaise*- 1 cup
Cilantro - 1 bunch
Shallot / red onion - 1/2 cup
Pickled Red chilli - 1/4 cup (u can make this at home like the sweet & sour pickle)
Ching's Mushroom sauce - 2 tbsp (optional)

*Veganaise is a vegan mayonaise...and its eggfree :)

Method :

The sweet n sour Pickle : 1) Mix the Julliened carrot and daikon in a boil. 2) In another bowl add the vinegar, salt, sugar and water and mix well until the sugar and salt dissolves well. 3) Pour the mixture on the daikon n carrot and mix well. 4) Keep this aside for an hour for the daikon n carrot to marinate.After using in the sandwich u can store the rest in a glass jar for later use. It stays good for atleast a month. 5) Do the same with the red chilli and store in a glass jar. Stays well atleast for a month.

Marinated and flavoured tofu : 1) Place the sliced tofu on a plate. 2) Sprinkle the fruit salt (or the red chilli, salt, sugar mix ), soy sauce, Lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and pepper on the tofu and rub it gently on the tofu. 3) See the the tofu doesnt break or get mashed up. 4) Allow it to marinate for an hour. 4) After an hour heat a griddle / tawa and roast the tofu on it. U can even bake it if u want...:)

***Cheater tip ;) - U dont actually need to marinate the tofu for 1 whole hour.:p. I just marinated it for just 15 minutes and it was perfect... but yeah 1 hour would be the best maybe :D

Assembly of the sandwich : 1) Cut the baguette in half and then slit it lengthwise. Toast it on a tawa for few minutes. The sandwich tastes crisper and nice when its warm :). 2) Spread a generous amount of the mayonaise on the bread. 3) Now drain a couple of spoonful of the sweet n sour pickle from its brine and add it to the sandwich. 4) Now, arrange some onion, the baked tofu and some sprigs of fresh cilantro on the sandwich. Keep the stems intact in the cilantro... it adds to the taste. 5) Add few drops of the mushoom sauce if u r using it.

Ur Yummy Vietnamese Banh Mi Chay sandwich is ready. Enjoy it and do leave me ur valuable comments n suggestions..:) Once again I thank Delhi Belle for this lovely recipe..:)

Now for some award time...:) I want to thank my new blogger friend Harika of Harika's blog for this awesome award. Thank u so much for tagging my blog as a Stylish blog :)



Isn't this pretty?? Yeah I know it is..:)

So to recieve this award I have some rules to follow. As we all know blogging is about knowing and sharing with others...so to accept this award there r certain criterias to be fulfilled.

1) Thank and link back to the blogger who awarded you with this award.

2) Share 7 things about you.

3) Award 15 recently discovered bloggers.

4) Contact the blogger and Inform them of the award.

So to start with I did the first part of thanking dear Harika. The second will be 7 things about me. Hmmm so here it goes..:)

- I love being a homemaker

- I love living in LA.

- I love crafting and also like to learn new art and craft forms..:). I love painting and cake decorating of them all..:)

- I am very very lazy....specially when it comes to blogging :D

- I am super talkative.

- I am super sensitive and very possesive :P

- I love India and want to someday go back and settle there..:)

Now comes the third part... Share it with 15 new bloggers... hmm. As I have not been very active for past few months/ years I think this is the most difficult job I have..:P

Anyways, here it goes

- Harika of Harika's kitchen ( just came to know her through this award..:)

- Sheela of Delectable-Victuals

- Veena of Veena's Veg Nation

- Pinki of Desi Fusion corner

- Madhuri of Ma recipes

- Mahima of Indian Vegetarian Kitchen

- Vegan Dad

- Ranjani of Wake up and smell the Masala

- Meena of Meena's corner

- Kitchen Flavours

- Richa of As dear as Salt

- Sowmya of Creative Saga

- Yasmeen of Health Nut

- Annapoorna of Kadchhi ke Kamal

- Jyotsana of the Cook's Cottage

Wow these r some awesome blogs. I hope u all love these blogs as much I do...:) U all guys r doing a great job and I hope u love this award and accept it :)

Now the last part... well I will do that..:)

Love ya guys... see ya again later with a delicious post..:)