Vietnamese Beef Banh Mi

SERVES 3-4 | 30 MINS PREP | 1 HR COOK TIME

INGREDIENTS

Beef

500g premium beef mince

3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated

2 Tbsp oyster sauce

1 Tbsp salt-reduced soy sauce

1 Tbsp liquid honey

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 tsp cornflour

¼ tsp salt

Quick pickled carrot

1 carrot, cut into very thin strips

¼ tsp salt

1 Tbsp white sugar

½ Tbsp white vinegar

1 tsp fish sauce

To serve

4 Bánh mì or baguettes, cut open lengthways

Store-bought chicken liver paté

1 telegraph cucumber, thinly sliced

A handful roughly chopped fresh coriander

Chilli sauce

METHOD

For beef meatballs, put the beef mince, garlic, lemon zest, oyster and soy sauce, honey, oil, cornflour and salt in a large bowl. Mix well, cover and put in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

For the pickled carrot, put the carrot strips into a bowl with the salt, massaging a few times with clean hands (or use a spoon), to soften the carrot, about 5 minutes.

Rinse carrot strips in cold water and drain well. Return to a clean bowl and add the sugar, white vinegar and fish sauce. Mix well and set aside for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 220℃ and line a shallow oven tray with foil.

To make the meatballs, take a spoonful of the beef mixture and shape it into a ball. Continue until you have about 16 meatballs in total. Arrange the meatballs on the prepared tray and cook for 10 minutes.

Turn the meatballs over and cook for a further 5 minutes until browned and cooked through.

Once the meatballs are cooked, remove from the oven and cover loosely with extra foil to keep warm.

While the meatballs are resting, reduce the oven to 180℃.

Put the bread in the oven to warm through - to heat the bread without becoming too crisp, wrap it in foil first.

Spread each bread serving with some pâté and add layers of cucumber, meatball, pickled carrot (without the juice) and coriander. Drizzle with chilli sauce, if you like.

RECIPE AND IMAGE THANKS TO RECIPES.CO.NZ