Banh-Mi Style Vietnamese Baguette

I don't really have much to say about this other than that it was super delicious and if you enjoy Asian flavors at all, you have to try it. It's very health, full of veggies, and soooo good. I mean anything with fresh basil and cilantro is good in my book. It's very spicy if you add the jalapeños so if your sensitive definitely leave them out. I think that this dish is traditionally a meat dish. I have never had it authentically but am now in search of the real deal in order to see how this recipe compares. I will let you know.

SANDWICH

• 2 portobello mushroom caps, sliced
• 1 jalapeño pepper, thinly sliced
• 8 sprigs fresh cilantro with stems
• 1/2 medium cucumber, sliced into thin strips
• 4 sprigs fresh Thai basil
• 2 (7 inch) French bread baguettes, split lengthwise

RELISH

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 carrot, sliced into sticks
• 1 daikon (white) radish, sliced into sticks
• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/2 cup cold water

SAUCE

• 1/2 cup chilled lime juice
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup cold water

Preheat the oven to 400 F (230 degrees C). Slice the mushrooms into strips then place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Cool slightly.

While the mushrooms are roasting, bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Plunge the carrot and radish sticks into the boiling water and after a few seconds, remove them and plunge them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. In a separate bowl, stir together the rice vinegar, 1/2 cup of lime juice and 1/2 cup cold water. Transfer the carrot and radish to the vinegar and lime marinade and let them soak for at least 15 minutes, longer if it's convenient.

In a small bowl, stir together the remaining lime juice, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, canola oil, 1/3 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water. This is the sandwich sauce.

To prep, slice a half a cucumber thinly, and a whole jalapeño thinly. If you end up with a mild jap, the whole thing will be fine on the sandwich, but test it first because we ended up with a pretty hot one, and had to take a lot of them off the sandwich. Of course if you don't like spicy, forget them.

Snap the stems off the basil and wash the leaves. I ripped them up a bit as I added them to the sandwich but you don't really need to.

To assemble the sandwiches, sprinkle a little of the sandwich sauce onto each half of the French loaves.

Place the roasted mushrooms onto the bottom half of each roll and sprinkle with a little more sauce.

Top with a few slices of jalapeños, a few sticks of carrot and radish (minus the marinade), cucumber, basil, and cilantro.

Close with the tops of the bread and serve.