Banh Mi Rolls

Banh Mi Rolls is a similar to spring rolls, but with all the goodies from the famous vietnamese sandwich Banh Mi. As many knows, the Banh Mi  Sandwich (check my recipe) was brought by the French into Vietnam during their occupancy during the Indochina time. I’m myself a big fan of those precious sandwich, but this version is a “back to the roots” one. I’ve taken out all the French elements (baguette and mayo) to make it a Banh Mi Roll (a la spring rolls). The Banh Mi Rolls consist of marinated chicken, pickled carrot/daikon, cucumber sticks and cilantro leaves which are the Banh Mi elements, then the usual spring rolls elements of rice vermicelli and rice paper. To finish it up, the usual fish sauce dip with extra spice to replace the spicy mayo from the sandwich. A great new way to eat your “rolls”, or Banh mi…

You can make as appetizers or full on “make it yourself” dinner (check my “do it yourself” dinner spring rolls). The chicken and carrot/daikon will need a minimum of 2 hours of marinating, then we’ll discard all the marinade before rolling the rolls. If you have leftovers, you can always make a real Banh mi for lunch the next day. I personally, like to make a full dinner with those rolls, and bring all the elements on the table and let people rolls their own rolls. It always feels convivial and rewarding to eat the rolls this way. It might not look like a perfect roll at first, but with practice you’ll get it right in no time. Without saying the chicken could easily be substituted for a tofu, pork, shrimp,etc.

Let’s roll!

Banh Mi Rolls

Makes about 12 rolls

Ingredients

Pickled daikon and carrots

• 3 carrots in fine sticks (julienne)
• 1 daikon in fine sticks (julienne)
• 100ml of white rice vinegar
• 100ml of water
• 60g of sugar, or honey
• salt

The chicken marinade

• 2 chicken breast cut into really thin fillets
• 1 tbsp of fish sauce (or soy sauce)
• 2 tbsp of rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp of honey or sugar

The hot fish sauce dip

• 4 tbsp of rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp of fish sauce
• 1 tsp hot pepper flakes in oil sauce

The Banh Mi Rolls

• rice paper (round or square)
• cooked rice vermicelli (Bun Gao)
• cilantro leaves 
• the pickled carrots and daikon
• the marinated chicken
• 1 cucumber cut into long thin sticks (julienne)

Directions

1. Start by marination the chicken, also pickle the carrot and daikon for a minimum of an hour up to a night (the carrot and daikon should marinate minimum 6 hours)
2. Cook the vermicelli according to packaging (rinse in cold water right away after the coccion) it makes them hold better
3. When ready to roll, discard the juice from the chicken and carrot and daikon pickle
4. Cook the chicken in a pan with a tad of oil, reserve
5. Soak the rice papers in luke warm water just to wet them up on each side (5 sec)
6. Lay the paper on a wet towel or wood surface
7. Add the ingredients on the lower center of the rolls horizontally (not too much) (add the cilantro leave first to let them show through the paper
8. Fold the sides on top first, then roll it up gently but still tight.
9. Mix in the sauce and you are ready to go!

Enjoy!