There’s nothing like riding on the back of a scooter while hanging on for dear life to get your day started. This is a normal, everyday thing for the Vietnamese and there are no traffic lights – NONE! Everyone just rides their scooters and prays for dear life at the intersections. I saw people riding with 6 children on each scooter (some just chilling in bags hanging on the side!) and even when people get hit, it’s a simple “sorry” and they carry on with their journey. This to me is just craziness but so intriguing and a definite must when in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). So, if you can stomach the thought of driving in rows and rows of scooters and then turning your head right to see rows and rows of scooters coming your way from a different direction, then I say hop on that strangers scooter and go take a tour of the city!

I found Ho Chi Minh City to be such a fascinating place with so much history. Besides taking a tour of the city on scooter-back, I would suggest taking a relaxing boat ride along the Mekong Delta to see the little house boats and floating market, crawl through the Cu Chi Tunnels to take in some history and of course, indulge in plenty of Pho, Vietnamese coffee and Banh Mi sandwiches.

So here’s the thing about this recipe – it makes a lot of pulled pork! I decided to make extra so I could have leftovers for other recipes. Feel free to use all the pulled pork for the banh mi sandwiches (just double the slaw and aioli recipe below) or pair the leftover pulled pork with my delicious Cheesy Mashed Yuca or Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes for a different pork dinner. That being said, the recipe below for the banh mi sandwich is for half the amount of pork being made, which makes about 3-4 sandwiches. This recipe seems more intimidating than it is by the amount of ingredients but most of them are just thrown into the roasting pan for flavour and then forgotten about. I promise, this is easy and well worth it.

Yield: Makes 3-4 sandwiches (about 5-6 inches each)

*Please note: this recipe makes double the pork so you can choose to use it all for sandwiches or save half for another meal. If you intend to use all the pork for the sandwiches, please double the slaw, aioli and everything else involved in creating this recipe.

Ingredients:

For the pork (makes 5-6 cups of pulled pork):

• 3 lbs pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut in half (gives you the option to make both halves for sandwiches or save one for another night)
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
• ½ large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 1 sprig of thyme
• ½ bunch of parsley
• 1 bunch of cilantro stems (leaves for sandwich topping)
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed
• 2 cups of water

For pan searing the pork (only the amount for the sandwiches):

• ½ tsp coriander
• ½ tbsp low sodium soy sauce

For the slaw:

• 1 cup carrot, shredded
• ¾ cup daikon radish, shredded
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt

For the garlic aioli:

• 2 egg yolks
• 5 garlic cloves
• juice of 1 lemon
• ⅓ – ½ cup olive oil
• ½ tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch of pepper

Everything else:

• French baguette
• butter for each sandwich
• cucumbers, thinly sliced
• cilantro
• jalapeños, thinly sliced (optional)

Preparation:

Let pork come to room temperature (about 30-60 minutes out of the fridge). Preheat the oven to 350°. Mix together the coriander, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper and rub it all over the pork. In a roasting pan or dutch oven, heat the canola oil on medium heat. Add in the pork and sear on each side for 2-3 minutes. Turn the heat off and in that same pan add in the carrot, celery, onion, rosemary, thyme, parsley, cilantro stems, garlic and water. Cover and roast in the oven for 2 hours. After 2 hours, remove the lid and roast for an additional 30 minutes. Remove one half of the pork (or both, if using), place in a large bowl and let cool slightly. Shred the pork using two forks. Just before serving, heat a sauté pan on medium low heat and add in the pork, soy sauce and coriander. Sear for a couple minutes just to get some crispy edges or to reheat if using the next day.

To make the slaw, mix the vinegars, sugar and salt. Mix in the carrot and daikon. Let the slaw sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before adding to sandwich.

To make the garlic aioli, place all the ingredients in a blender except the olive oil and give it a few pulses. Slowly add in the olive oil and blend well until all incorporated.

Slice open the bread, add some butter on each side and heat in the oven until warm, just a couple of minutes. To serve the sandwiches: add the aioli on each piece of bread (don’t be skimpy with it) and fill the sandwich with the pork, slaw, cucumber slices, cilantro and jalapeños. Enjoy this delicious taste of Vietnam!