Vietnamese Rice Bowl

We are lucky enough to have some very good Vietnamese restaurants and street vendors in my town. I am a big fan of the Banh mi's which are sold on the streets of Vietnam. They are made with a French baguette filled with either chicken or pork, pickled carrots and radishes, fresh cilantro, green onions, cucumbers and hot peppers if you like them spicy. When I saw these recently I just had to make them. Even if you are not a big fan of Asian food, give these a try. I think they will convert you.



Add 2 cups of shredded daikon to a bowl along with 4 shredded carrots and some sliced red radish.


In a separate bowl add 1 cup of rice vinegar, 5 tsp. sugar and 1/2 tsp. salt.


Whisk this around until the sugar dissolves.


Pour it over the shredded vegetables and toss around then set it aside for about 30 minutes.


Place 2 pounds of ground pork, 6 diced garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger, 2 T. brown sugar, 2 tsp. black pepper, 3 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. fish sauce, 1 tsp. sesame oil, 2 eggs and 1 cup of panko bread crumbs. Mix, mix and mix some more until everything is thoroughly blended.


The denser you mix it, the tighter the meatballs will be.


I used a small ice cream scoop to form the balls. They should be about the size of walnuts. Fry them in a bit of olive oil combined with sesame oil.



Once they start to brown, cover the pan and turn the heat off and let them sit for 10 minutes to cook through.


The meatballs are ready.

Have some Asian rice ready. Sticky rice is good with these.


Serve the meatballs over the rice with some of the pickled radish/carrot mixture on the side. The juice from these really flavors the rice. Add some fresh cilantro, cucumbers and green onions. Add a couple slices of lime to squeeze over everything just before eating.