How has everyone been? I have been very busy with work and life as usual. It's been very pleasant weather wise and sunny here in Durham.
I must apologize for not being so active on my posts lately but I have not forgotten about my bi-weekly reviews~! I will try to get back on that task after June or so. It's going to be pretty hectic for me for the next few months. I've got family coming to visit the U.S. and lots of traveling to do.
I'll keep you posted about my travels and delicious things I eat and see~ ^^
I was wondering if you have stopped by my Facebook page lately? http://facebook.com/LifestyleofaFoodieLOAF. This is where I post most of my recent cooking adventures in a quick format. I present my how-to recipes in a single frame photo with basic steps. I started thinking about people wanting recipes for the food that I make. I would like to eventually evolve into posting recipes with the food but there are thousands and thousands of recipes out there on the world wide web. Everyone has different tastes and prefers different ingredients. My primary focus is to show you the basic steps so that you can make that dish your own.
If you love a variety of Korean and Asian cuisines, I am the one to follow. :)
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Today feels like it's Saturday~! Well, it's actually Friday~
I've been getting some rest and relaxation by doing completely nothing until I got the sudden growl in my tummy. :)
I've been meaning to make a banh mi sandwich for sometime. My very first experience was a lemongrass chicken banh mi that was so tender and Mmm Mmm~ delicious~!!
If you've read my previous post about the food truck rodeo, you'll see that there is a photo of the second banh mi that i've ever tried.
It's a delicious sandwich filled with meat and pickled vegetables.
I love the taste of pungent fish sauce with the garlicky and sweet carrots and daikon.
I've noticed some banh mi's have pickled cucumber slices and I love that too~!!
Today's banh mi that I made was with the ingredients I had in my fridge and pantry. I used a piece of ribeye steak, cilantro, Mu (Korean radish which is like daikon), carrots, fish sauce, sugar, minced garlic, vinegar, crushed red pepper, cucumbers, jalapeno, Hellmann's mayo, apple vinegar, honey wheat bread, soy sauce, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I have to confess, my mom just went grocery shopping for dinner and also had some radish left over from making Kkak Du Ki (radish kimchi) so I just took some of her ingredients. :)
I went ahead by prepping the pickled vegetables first because they needed time to get tasty. I used a mandoline and thinly shredded the carrots,cucumber and mu. You can slice the vegetables any way you like as long as it's thin enough to become pickled quickly. I made the marinade with the vinegar, fish sauce, water. sugar, garlic and crushed red pepper. The cucumber was pickled separately with salt, vinegar and a paste of the jalapeno, sugar and garlic. I did not have any lime or lemon juice but the original recipes ask for it. I put in a splash of the Korean apple vinegar in place of the rice vinegar for the carrots and mu pickles. Lets just estimate it should sit for about 15-30 minutes depending on thickness. Next, I sliced some of the ribeye steak thinly on the bias and marinated it in a little bit of soy sauce, organic cane sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I didn't let that sit too long, maybe about 5 minutes since the slices were thin. I substituted fresh garlic for the garlic powder because I only wanted to use a little and the pickled vegetables already had enough garlic in them. I would have loved to add lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves to this marinade but I could only use what I had. :)
I sauteed the beef in a frying pan with no oil because the ribeye is generally a fatty cut of beef and I didn't want to add extra calories. You can use a leaner cut of beef, pork or chicken breasts to make this dish .
The assembly: I toasted the two slices of honey wheat bread and put a thin layer of mayo on each side. I added a few slices of the cooked beef, topped it with the pickled cucumber, then the pickled carrots/mu and then some cilantro leaves and jalapeno slices. I put the second slice of toast on top and sliced it in half.
The ending result: A smile on my face and a party in my mouth~! :)
Hope you enjoy~ Let me know when you've made your own banh mi~
All photo credits: LifestyleofaFoodie.
