If you haven’t tried one before, these are  super fresh and tasty Vietnamese sandwiches.  They started of as simple street food, using the baguettes made popular by the French who invaded and colonised the country.

I make no claims that this is 100% authentic.  But I think I have done justice to the tangy crunchy lightly pickled vegetables, and the freshness of the herbs and some heat from the chillies hold true to the original thing.

You can use left over chicken or ham in these, but the first version I ever tried had little chicken meatballs that were packed with flavour.  You could also use pork mince to make these.

 My main tip is don’t scrimp on the herbs, they are what makes it. The pickled veggies can live in your fridge for 4-5 days are great served with other dishes.

Serves 4

For the pickled vegetables

100 ml Cider vinegar

100 ml Water

1/2 Tsp Sugar

1 Large carrot (cut into into matchsticks)

1/2 Onion (thinly sliced)

7-8 Radishes (thinly sliced)

For the meatballs

500 Grams Turkey or chicken mince

1 Egg (beaten)

1 Tsp Fish sauce

Handful of breadcrumbs

2 Cloves of garlic (grated or finely chopped)

1 Tbsp Grated ginger

1 Small chilli pepper or more if you like a lot of heat (finely chopped

4 x Demi (small) baguettes

4 Tbsp Mayonnaise

1/2 Cucumber (cut into batons or what ever shape you like)

Coriander and mint

Chilli peppers (finely chopped)

Lime wedges to sere (optional)

Method

• In a large bowl, add all the ingredients for the meatballs and combine well.  Take around a tablespoon of the mix and roll it into a ball. Continue until you have used all the mix.  Set the meatballs onto a tray and chill for 30 minutes
• For the pickled vegetables, add the chopped vegetables to a large jar.  Combine the water, vinegar and sugar and pour over the vegetables. Seal the jar and shake before letting stand for 30 minutes
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius), and bake the meatballs for 20 minutes, or you can fry them if you prefer.  I usually pop the baguettes in to the oven for a couple of minutes to let them crisp up
• Cut the baguettes length ways and scoop some of the soft white bread from the centre (this will make it easier to load up your sandwich)
• Spread a tablespoon of mayonnaise on each baguette (you can add more if you like), then add the pickled vegetables and meatballs before adding the sliced cucumber, mint, coriander and chilli.  Give each sandwich a quick squeeze of lime before getting stuck into sandwich perfection.