Banh Mi Chay-Vietnamese street food re-posted for The Mad Scientist's Kitchen "Street Foods of the World" Event

Archana of The Mad Scientist's Kitchen, and  Pari , creator of  "Only" series on her blog Foodelicious have made and hosted this great event, "Only Street Food of the World" which promises to showcase some diverse and fascinating cuisines to enrich our culinary vocabularies- in other words, I'm really looking forward to learning some new stuff come the roundup, and I'm proud to have this as my first post of 2013/ last post of 2012 (depending on where in the world you are)! My contribution is this delicious sandwich from Vietnam, which blends South East Asian and European traditions due to Vietnam's French colonial history.

Fresh raw veg makes this a healthy snack choice

Add generous amounts of everything to your sandwich!

I should say something about the history of this street food; actually, this now world- famous sandwich is more likely to be found in its vegetarian/ vegan version being given out in Buddhist temples on festival days rather than on the street, (usually it's made with meat) but in an alternative universe where everyone is vegetarian, this would definitely be a popular street snack too. I chose seitan as the protein here, but I have heard it is also very good with tofu. Banh mi is made with baguette and mayonnaise, which were introduced to Vietnam by the French. (I would have preferred to use wholemeal bread, but I couldn't get any on the day I made this.) I made my mayo with tofu rather than egg, and I have used Korean kimchi as the vegetable pickle which I think lends itself very well to this sandwich, so my version of banh mi is truly a fusion dish.  You can add any salty, spicy vegetable-based pickle you wish- matchstick raw veggies and chilli  in miso is one idea that's in keeping with the banh mi's oriental roots..

This recipe serves 4 people, and needn't take long if you have made or bought the seitan and tofu in advance:

1 long baguette/ French stick, cut into 4 pieces which are then sliced lengthways

 Seitan made with 1 kg flour- click here to learn how to make it

A half quantity of tofu-miso mayo- click here for the recipe

1/4 long cucumber

1 bunch fresh coriander (cilantro)

Grated daikon (mooli), or -as shown here- a mix of grated pink radish and celeriac is good

kimchi- click here for the recipe- or miso mixed with chilli. Add these according to your taste, as they provide the spicy kick to this sandwich.

• Bake the seitan in a shallow ovenproof dish with some of the leftover stock from making it at 200C until liquid is absorbed, turning once. Slice.
• Meanwhile prepare the salad veg. as shown in the picture above. The cucumber needs to be sliced thinly and the radish shredded.
• Make the mayo in your blender and set aside.
• You can either keep the seitan warm and also warm the bread, or serve the banh mi cold, as I did. (Cold seemed right because of the raw veg.)
• Assemble the sandwiches by slathering the bread in mayo, laying on the seitan slices and topping with salad and pickle/ chilli miso.
• Make sure your sandwich is full to bursting with crunchy veg, succulent seitan,oozing mayo and spicy flavours!