Posts

Bhan Mi Pork Seasoning

Ingredients

500g pork fillet cut into 4 pieces
1 shallot chopped finely
3 cloves of grated garlic
1/2 chilli chopped finely
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons maggi seasoning sauce
1 tablespoon chinese 5 spice

pork bahn mi marinading in seasoning

Instructions

Mix all of the above in a bowl and and pour onto the pork fillet pieces then leave to marinade for a few hours or overnight in the fridge, turning occasionally and spooning the seasoning on top to make sure the meat absorbes all of the flavour on both sides. The longer the better.

Warm the oven up and place on around 180C, once warm place the pork fillet pieces topped with the majority of the chopped chopped pieces of garlick, chilli and shallot that’s been used to marinade it in the oven for around 25 minutes depending on your oven but make sure it’s cooked through. Leave it to rest for 15 minutes then carve into thin slithers.

Carrot and daikon pickles

Ingredients

Pre salting
2 carrots julienned
1/2 daikon julienned (Also known as Mooli as I found out trying to hunt it down in Cardiff and found it named Mooli in Cardiff market opposite the spice stall)
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspons of granulated sugar

carrot and daikon pickle recipe
post salting
3 teaspoons sea salt
6 teaspoons granulated sugar
125ml warm water
125ml distilled white vinegar or rice wine vinegar

Instructions

Julienne the carrots and daikon and place into a deep bowl. I use a potato peeler style juilienne handle I picked up from TK Maxx but i’ve seen them in a lot of kitchen shops for around £5 and it’s my favourite gadgets in the kitchen for making salads and slaws.

Add the salt and sugar from the pre salting ingredients above and mix in with your hands for around 30 seconds then leave for another 3 minutes for the water to leach out. Squeeze the carrot and daikon mixture to release any excess liquid then run cold water into the bowl giving a squeeze and emptying a few times to get rid of the salt mixture.

Dissolve the salt and sugar from the post salting ingredients list in the warm water and when fully dissolved add the vinegar to the mix.

I had two sterilised medium sized mason jars with a clasp and filled each one with an equal mix of the carrot and daikon but use one larger one if you have it. Top with the vinegar solution so that the vegetables are fully submerged. I topped it up with a tiny bit of water as there was just a few straws of veg poking above the mixture then put in the fridge to pickle. Some recipes i’ve seen said you can use them after a quick pickle of 30 minutes but I opted to do them and leave overnight in the fridge.

Bahn Mi Topping

Ingredients

1 packet of pate, I opted for brussels or you could use a chunky Ardennes
hoi sin sauce
mayonnaise
Sriracha sauce (I already had a bottle of Sriracha May in the fridge so just used that instead of mixing both myself)
Jalapenos
Cucumber cut into battons
Small handfull of chopped corriander
1 crispy baguette type bread (Arguably this is seen as the most important item of the dish and to make it authentic the Vietnamese use a crusty french style bread but they don’t have any vietnamese bakeries in Cardiff so i’ve had to opt for a salt and pepper baguette from tesco as i love the pepperiness)

bahn mi recipe toppings

Instructions

Cut chunk of bread to your liking depending how hungry you are and whether you’re sharing or not. Slather a wedge of pate on the bottom of the sliced baguette, topp with the cucumber battons then expertly layer the sliced pork to sit on top.

Spread a good dollop of your mayo on the top half of the bread wheather you want to go spicy and add some Sriracha is up to you. I did but Mwsh didn’t want any as she was being a wimp this morning. Sprinkle some chopped corriander so it sticks to the mayo combo then add a little squirt of hoi sin over the pork.

Top the pork with a few slices of jalapenos and a generous helping of the carrot and daikon pickle. You may have to stand on the baguette to shut it and if you’re going to use a knife and fork get the hell off my blog right now! Enjoy at your leisure, just make sure you have a few napkins to wipe your brow and contents off your face and beard. Enjoy with a beer unless you’re sat in front of your PC in work 🙁

Ingredients

  • 2 medium sweet potatoes diced
  • 1 medium red onion
  • 3 – 4 rashers of bacon depending how see through they’ve been cut
  • ¼ chorizo sausage chopped
  • 6 free range eggs
  • 1 courgette
  • 1 chilli chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic chopped
  • Slithers of your favourite cheese or enough to grate and melt on top to liking (I used a mixture of brie, Welsh Seaweed and Welsh Cheddar but you can leave out all together if you wish)

Instructions

Peel and dice the sweet potato and heat on a medium heat in a high sided frying pan or wok with a bit of olive oil. Whilst that is softening up chop the onions, chorizo, chilli, garlic and rashers of bacon into small lardons.

Use a spiralizer or julienne on the courgette but discard the soft centre as this has too much moisture and doesn’t hold a decent shape or consistency. When the potato starts to soften a bit after about 8-10 minutes add the onions and chopped bacon and give a good stir. Continue cooking until the bacon starts to crisp a bit and the fat renders along with the onions starting to brown for a another 5 minutes depending on the power of your hob.

Now add the chilli, garlic, chorizo and courgette strips to the pan and stir to incorporate everything. Continue cooking for a few minutes and whilst it’s cooking crack 6 eggs, add a bit of sea salt and pepper and whisk for a few minutes by hand to fluff them up and get some air into the mix so the frittata has a bit more volume to it than a standard omelette.  Once the courgette and chorizo has cooked a bit drizzle the freshly whisked eggs to evenly to the pan trying to coat everything.

I dropped a few nuggets of leftover brie, some Welsh Seaweed Cheese that I’d picked up from Riverside Market in Cardiff on Sunday and a little bit of some Welsh Cheddar to fill in the gaps. Add as much cheese to your liking or skip all together if you’re cutting the calories. Continue to cook for a few minutes so the bottom of the egg mixture cooks but put the grill on a medium high whilst it’s cooking and finish off under there so the top cooks and cheese melts into the frittata mixture below.

I halved it between two plates but I was pretty full after my half so could easily do 4 meals with a side salad or 3 on its own. Can be eaten warm or I had it the following day for lunch in work and was equally delish eaten cold.