BANH MI- ELAINE'S STYLE

4/10/2016

Tuesday

No knead baguette

Over the long weekend I had planned to do my style of banh mi after my Hanoi trip. Unfortunately I was not feeling well after eating a plate of fried kway teow with cockles. I had the same problem years ago and since then have been rather cautious of not eating this as much as possible.   

Anyway I have been inspired by my Hanoi trip recently to try to make this banh mi.  First to make the pate.  I had goggle a few recipes and some of them use minced pork as well as chicken liver.  In the end, I decided to make a small portion with chicken liver and use my favourite recipe from Flavours magazine. 

Only 5 chicken liver, cleaned and remove all veins etc.  Soak them overnight with 1 cup of milk which is supposed to increase the creamy texture of the pate.  

Next day, drain, rinse and diced them. Saute onions, minced garlic, mixed herbs, add the diced chicken liver.  Splash some white wine and let it simmer till liver is cooked.  Let cool and then blend them with some butter (around 8 tablespoon)  and season to taste. 

sealed the top with some melted butter and freeze them if not using immediately. This was done on Saturday.

I prepared the No-knead baguette in the evening and left the dough overnight in the fridge for not more than 16 hours. Divide the dough into 3 buns and baked them on Sunday morning.  I was indeed satisfied with the buns. 

I had also prepared some pickled cucumbers, carrot and daikon with rice vinegar and sugar to stand by.

Next, I marinated 3 square cubes of pork belly (which I had in the fridge) with blended mixture of  ground cumin, spring onions, garlic, salt, pepper and fish sauce overnight.

I used the Happy Call pan to grill the pork belly on Sunday.   After cooling, slice them into thin slices and again use the grill pan to light cook them before serving.  It is advisable to use pork belly without the skin  as it was rather chewy after cooking.   

Ready to plate. 

Split bun in half, spread with mayonnaise and chicken pate. 

Top with the pickled cucumbers, carrot and daikon.

Next you can add some  fresh herbs and sliced lettuce on top (which I do not have) and also some nuoc cham sauce.  

Finally the slices of grilled pork belly

Verdict:  I can taste the creaminess of pate and the pickled veggies was good with the grilled meat.