Wednesday, March 26, 2014

I spent a huge part of the morning figuring out my course selection for my MEd program!  The winter semester selection is highly lacking, but perhaps that will make it easier for me to go abroad to England for an exchange...?! Or perhaps it will be a good opportunity to do a CIDE (Comparative, International and Development Education) practicum in an international organization...? We shall see! Much to look forward to.

My afternoon involved: teaching Kindergarten, my dish of the day, “Banh Mi”, two private lessons (a middle school class and a one-on-one class with a medical student) in the evening, followed by catching up on How I Met Your Mother! Next week is already the season/show finale!

So, I’m not sure why I have waited nearly 2 whole months to feature Banh Mi as my “Dish of the Day”.  Apart from pho, it is one of the easiest to find and most popular foods in Ho Chi Minh City! Perhaps I wanted to wait until I found my favourite banh mi – the best banh mi around.  And today is the day! Despite being twice the cost of the average banh mi (30,000 vs. 15,000 VND), it is still incredibly cheap by North American standards.  Banh Mi is also incredibly convenient and delicious!

So what is it, you ask?  Banh Mi means “sandwich” and the Vietnamese Banh Mi always comes on a perfectly-sizes baguette and has some typical fillings and flavours, however many Banh Mi sellers/vendors offer some options, depending on how big their cart or street-side facilities are.  I believe that the perfect banh mi has a balance of flavours and textures, has nice soft, fresh bread with just the right crunch on the outside, and provides a nice portion of meat, egg or protein.

Here are the most common fillings for a Banh Mi!:

-          A type of protein: Pork, chicken, freshly fried egg, beef, canned tuna, processed deli meats (i.e. ham), and protein-replacements (i.e. made from tofu).  Pork is very popular.

-          Dried fish (in thin “hairlike” slivers) – better than it sounds!

-          Laughing Cow cheese (very popular here – generally costs extra on a banh mi)

-          Cilantro

-          Onions

-          Chili peppers

-          Radish

-          Carrot

-          Cucumber

-          Dressings/condiments (often soy sauce, chili sauce, salt/pepper...)