The Vietnamese Bahn Mi is a favorite street food, pulling influences from France with the crusty French baguette to the savory meat, sweet and tangy pickled veggies and a hardy dose of sriracha mayo. Put it all together and you have yourself a summer fave and street food perfection! But not everyone can enjoy the Bahn Mi on bread, so here is a great alternative that preserves all those amazing Bahn Mi flavors into a salad that will be sure to please. This is a great recipe to bring to a summer picnic or event, or just to enjoy for dinner and lunch the next day! It can easily be made vegan by avoiding fish sauce in place of coconut aminos and using a meat alternative or mushrooms for the sauce.
Dressing:
1 avocado
1/2 Cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
1 TBSP of Siracha
1-2 TBSP of Toasted Sesame Oil
1-2 TBSP Rice Wine Vinegar
Chicken/Marinade
1 lb pasture raised chicken breasts or thighs, (can also use humanely raised pork, Mushrooms, or pasture raised flank steak)
1/4 cup fish sauce (for vegan replace with coconut aminos)
1/2 cup coconut aminos
3 TBSP brown monk fruit sugar
2 tablespoons minced shallot
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced ginger
2 small lemongrass stalks, minced
Freshly cracked black and white pepper, to taste
Pickled Veggies:
1/2 red onion
2-3 carrots
1/4 Diakon or Red Radish
1 cup Red wine or apple cider vinager
5-6 cloves of garlic
2 TBSP salt
1 tsp monk fruit or powdered stevia
optional fresh herbs: Thyme, Chives, Rosemary
Bowl
4 oz grilled chicken
2 cups mixed green
1/4 cup pickled diakon or radish
1/4 cup pickled onion
1/2 cup pickled carrot
1 pasture raised softboiled egg
Instructions:
Pickled Veggies:
1. Pack each veggie, garlic and herbs into a quart size jar with at least a 1/2 in of room at the top
2. In a saucepan, heat the vinegar, salt, and “sugar until boiling
3. Pour liquid into jar to cover veggies
4. Cover and cool to room temperature then refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.
Chicken:
1. Make the marinade: In a medium bowl, whisk together all the lemongrass chicken ingredients except the chicken. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Light a grill. Remove the chicken from the marinade and cook, flipping once, until charred and reaching an internal temperature of 165º, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Let rest for 5 minutes, then cut into 3-inch pieces.
Dressing: Pulse all ingredients together in a blender or food processor
Assemble:
1. Toss greens with a 1/4-1/2 of dressing
2. Arrange grilled chicken to one side
3. Peel and slice soft boiled egg
4. Add pickled veggies
