Is it just me or does it feel like everyone is traveling to SE Asia recently?! I don’t know about you but I’ve got some serious FOMO over here! It is a dream trip of mine but I haven’t been able to make it happen yet.
To ease some of my jealousy, I decided to create my own take on a traditional Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich. While typically in Vietnamese cooking they would use pork, I had ground turkey in my fridge so I decided to give it a go. As it turns out, it was really delicious and I don’t feel it compromised the taste of the sandwich. After preparing the Vietnamese-style turkey meatballs, I pilled them on a crusty baguette with pickled veggies, spicy mayo, cilantro, and avocado. And WOW, I am so happy with how it turned out.
Really, every topping in this recipe is critical… I wouldn’t skip any of it or you would end up with a totally different flavor profile. The combination of the freshness from the cilantro, the sweetness from the pickled veggies, and the spicyness from the mayo was an amazing explosion of flavor! You gotta try this for yourself..
Turkey Meatball Banh Mi
Ingredients
Spicy Mayo
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1 tbsp siracha
Meatballs
- 1 lbs ground turkey
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp siracha
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 tsp cornstarch
Sandwich & Toppings
- 1 cup coarsely grated carrots
- 1 cup coarsely grated radish
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 4 10-inch long pieces of baguette
- cilantro sprigs
- 1 avocado, sliced thin
Instructions
-
Combine the grated carrots and radish with the rice vinegar and sugar in a medium bowl. Let marinate for 1 hour (or overnight) before building the sandwiches.
-
To make the meatballs, combine the ground turkey, basil, green onion, garlic, siracha, sugar, salt, pepper, and cornstarch in a large bowl. Dampen your hands with water and then use them to combine all the ingredients. Once well mixed, shape into 1-inch round meatball.
-
Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add half the meatballs. Saute until brown and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Once finished, cook remaining meatballs in the same manner.
-
To prepare the spicy mayo, combine the mayo and siracha. pretty easy, huh?
-
Cut the baguettes in half and pull out any excess bread to make the sandwich not too thick/bite-able. Lightly toast if you would like.
-
Spread the spicy mayo on the bread. Arrange the sandwich with the avocado, meatballs, cilantro and drained pickled veggie.
