Banh Mi Style Burger

When anyone asks me where else in the world would I consider living, my answer is always immediately Vietnam. I ADORED Vietnam! Every inch of it, the people, the landscape, the culture, the food......!!!!!!!! I have pretty much seen a big chunk of the world in my backpacking days and Vietnam beats every country, no questions asked, especially when it comes to the food!! Spectacular is an understatement!!

We loved Vietnam so much that when we were reaching the maximum stay in the country of 30 days, we panicked and immediately when to a travel agents to pay a crazy amount of money for an extension to our visa to stay longer. Even one or two bad experiences during the 5-6 week stay in Vietnam wouldn't deter us (a brief mugging;  stranded in a train on side of a cliff during a typhoon for 3 days; extreme mosquito mauling - all of which was character building).

The food is sublime, the street food, the Pho, the Bia Hoi (fresh beer), and my ultimate favourite the spring rolls (both deep fried and fresh alike). One of the most popular street food in Vietnam is Banh Mi. This is basically a spicy marinated pork (think ginger, chilli, garlic, Lemongrass) lime, fresh herbs, vegetable pickle, and a punchy dipping sauce; all enveloped in crusty baguette the Vietnamese are now as famous as France for. These are for sale on most street corners in Vietnam from food hawkers. On our journeys on the road  with the Easy Riders (look them up) we saw a few stationed in long stretches of highways also. They always drew a crowd.

(Me and Jung, my Easy Rider, in Dalat, Vietnam, Oct 2007)

Here is a quick Friday Night Burger Night homage to the humble Banh Mi! The burst of freshness cannot be replicated in any other nations' burgers! You need to try it to see what I mean!

Ingredients

Burgers

• 500g of Irish Quality Assured Pork Mince
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp of freshly grated ginger
• 1 tbsp of chopped and deseeded red chili
• 1 tbsp of chopped lemongrass
• 1 egg
• Zest of a lime
• Juice of 1/4 of lime
• 3 tbsp of chopped fresh coriander
• 1 tsp of fish sauce
• 1 tbsp of brown sugar
• 1 grated onion

Carrot Pickle

• 1 grated carrot
• 1 tbsp of white vinegar
• 1 tbsp of caster sugar

Chili Mayo

• 2 tbsp of chili sauce
• 5 tbsp of mayo

Homemade French Fries

• 2 rooster potatoes, cut into thin chips
• 1 tbsp of oil
• 1 tbsp of Chinese 5 spice powder

To Serve

• Burger Buns (I'm using Slimbos to keep the Carbs low)
• Extra lime wedges
• Extra fresh coriander and some fresh mint leaves.

Method

1. Combine all the burger ingredients in a non metallic bowl and stir very well to ensure mixed through.
2. Line a baking tray with parchment.
3. Wet your hands and shape 5-6 burger patties into your hands and lay them on the tray.
4. Put in the fridge to firm up for at least 30 minutes.
5. To make the carrot pickle, simply combine the 3 ingredients in a bowl and set aside. 
6. Likewise with the chili mayo, stir both ingredients together and set aside.
7. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Add the potato chips, the oil,and 5-spice to a bowl. Stir thoroughly.
8. Lay the chips out on a single layer in a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes.
9. Preheat a griddle pan and gently fry the burgers for 7 minutes a side. I usually finish them off in the oven for 3-4 minutes at the end. I also add the burger buns to toast in the oven at this stage too.
10. So the burgers won't be too wet, I drain the carrot pickle of liquid by putting it in the middle of 2 sheets of kitchen paper and squeezing out the excess liquid over a sink.
11. To plate up, spread some of the mayo on the burger bun, top with the burger, followed by the fresh herbs and carrot pickle. Finally top with the other burger bun spread generously with chili mayo. The only problem is trying to eat with dignity. NAPKINS OBLIGATORY!
12. Serve with chips and extra lime wedges.

This is my ultimate burger and if you try it you will see why. It's the most flavorsome burger out there whilst staying relatively healthy in comparison to it's burger counterparts.

Tip: Wrap the leftover uncooked burgers in parchment paper and then place in a freezer bag. Will keep well in the freezer for 2 months

Chicken, Mango & Mint Fresh Spring Rolls

I don't know if I mentioned before that Vietnam is my favorite country in the world I've visited, partially because of the food and partially because of the people! Well I was introduced to so many new flavors/foods on my trip to Vietnam, but one thing that stands out from memory has to be fresh spring rolls!

I remember even exactly where I came upon them for the very first time. It was in a cute little restaurant in the little tailoring town of Hoi An. It was along the river and the restaurant came recommended to us by travelers we had met in our hotel. We had been in Vietnam 2-3 weeks at this stage and at every meal we always ordered spring rolls, the gorgeous small deep fried morsels of heaven!!! Here they asked did we want fresh spring rolls and to me that meant freshly made, not frozen. I remember being embarrassed when the fresh spring rolls and I ask why they weren't cooked!!!

Now I'm on the lookout on every Asian menu for fresh spring rolls!!! They are divine and not to mention so healthy. It's such a shame down here in southern Ireland there are no Vietnamese restaurants. But luckily my local supermarket just started to stock the rice paper wrappers, so now I can make them myself any time I want them

Ingredients

Makes 10 spring rolls

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into thin strips and poached. (or leftover roast chicken is great)
• 1 mango, cut into thin strips
• 100g of thin rice noodles (soaked in boiled water for 10 minutes)
• 10-20 mint leaves
• 10 rice paper discs

Peanut Dipping Sauce

• 2 tbsp of peanut butter
• 1 tbsp of hoisin sauce
• 1 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp of chilli paste
• 1 crushed garlic clove
• 1 tsp of tomato paste
• water to thin the sauce to desired consistency

Method

1. First make the sauce. Add all the sauce ingredients to a pan and bring to the boil, add water to give you the consistency you require.
2. To assemble the spring rolls, have all your ingredients lined up assembly-line style.
3. Drain the noodles well, and ensure the chicken is seasoned.
4. Take a wide shallow bowl and fill it with water.
5. Take 1 rice paper disc at a time, soak it in the water for 10 seconds or until it become pliable.
6. Lay it on a flat surface in front of you.
7. Add a strip of chicken, mango and some noodles to the bottom quarter of the rice paper. Top it with mint leaves and roll it away from you tucking the end under the ingredients wrapped. 
8. Take in both sides of the roll to the centre and then continue to roll up till the end.
9. Place on a plate and cover with wet chicken paper, whilst you repeat the process with the remaining 9 spring rolls.
10. Serve immediately with the dipping sauce.

Tip: You can use any fillings you wish, i.e prawns or pork and carrots or red pepper strips. Mix and matching is great!

Slow Roasted Vietnamese Pork

A 'No Knife Required Roast'...

If you are not a big pork fan, this recipe should change your mind. I'm using a rolled joint of pork that Nugent Butchers in Cork prepared for me. They scored the fat and tied this pork up for me. I simply just created the marinade and banged it in the oven and forgot about it for 6 hours, which let me to get on with the rest of my day.

Serves 4-6 (depends on their greediness)

Ingredients

• 2 kg pork shoulder, rolled and scored
• 4 tbsp of fish sauce
• 2 lemon grass, bruised
• 2 tbsp of granulated sugar
• 2 red chilis, deseeded and finely sliced
•  thumb size ginger piece, peeled
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 tbsp of black peppercorns
• 1 star anise
• 1 tbsp coarse sea salt
• 500g thin egg noodles
• Spring onions
• 3 large mushrooms, sliced
• 2 carrots, sliced finely
• 4 chopped spring onions
• Soy sauce
• Freshly chopped mint, coriander, and basil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees
2. Prepare the marinade: in a mini blender blitz the garlic, ginger, chili, peppercorns, sugar, and star anise 
3. Rub the marinade over the meat and get some inside the scored fat.
4. Rub sea salt into the meat.
5. Put the meat in a roasting tray and add the lemongrass in also.
6. Pour over the fish sauce and roast in the oven for 20 minutes
7. After 20 minutes, take the meat out of the oven and cool the oven down to 140 degrees.
8. Put double foil over the roasting tray and put the meat back in the oven for 5 hours.
9. After the 5 hours, turn the heat up to 200 again and take the foil off. This allows the crackling to cook perfectly.
10. Take out of the oven after being cooked for 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Allow to rest for 20 minutes at least.
11. Just before serving, cook the egg noodles and stir fry the mushrooms, carrots and other remaining chili.
12. Drain the cooked egg noodles, add to the stir fry and pour in some soy sauce and chopped herbs.
13. Divide the noodle stir fry in serving bowls.
14. To carve the meat, cut off the crackling with a knife and simply use a fork to separate the pork.  It's meltingly tender and a trip back for seconds cannot be avoided.
15. Top the noodles with the pulled pork, and top with some chopped herbs and spring onions, and some crackling.