Fridge Friday: Chicken Banh Mi Sandwich with Pickled Vegetables

I’m sure you know the feeling. The feeling when you get home from work on a Friday night, only to find an empty fridge, with nothing to eat. It’s so frustrating. But is there really nothing to eat? Look again, because I’m sure there has to be a little something left over from a previous meal. You just need a creative way to reuse it so that you don’t find yourself eating the same dish over and over again. Let me help you with that!

Introducing: “Fridge Friday”! What’s that, you ask? Well it’s a (hopefully) weekly recipe, that’ll feature at least one “leftover” ingredient from my fridge. Even if I try to make as much single-serve recipes as possible, I still have some leftovers, and I also figured I’m probably not the only one running low on groceries towards Fridays. Though I always try to come up with creative ways to use them, I find that food blogs tend to forget leftovers in their recipes. So I decided to change that, and without further due, let’s dig in!

For this first edition, my inspiration was a Vietnamese Chicken Bahn Mi, which is a chicken sandwich with lots of pickled vegetables, and plenty of exotic flavors. I used some leftover rotisserie chicken from my fridge, that worked really well in this dish. I used mostly white meat, and drizzled a delicious special soy sauce on top of it. It was a wonderful way to reuse that meat, while eating a completely different meal. Don’t be afraid by the bunch of steps, as the only time consuming one is to wait for the vegetables to pickle. If you prep a jar of these for the week, a Bahn Mi is just a sandwich: quick, easy and super practical if you’re on the run. Bon appétit!

Total time: 30-60 min for the pickled vegetables and 10 min for the sandwich.

Ingredients for the Pickled Vegetables:

3 cups warm water
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
2 carrots (in ribbons or sticks)
3 radishes (in slices)

1. Add it all together in a jar, and let the thinly sliced vegetables soak for 30 min minimum. You can also keep a jar ready in your fridge for the week.

Ingredients for the Sandwich:

1/2 French baguette (or a crusty roll)
pickled vegetables (recipe above)
leftover rotisserie chicken (as much as you want!)
1/4 cucumber
fresh cilantro
2 leaves of lettuce
my Special Sauce

Ingredients for the Special Sauce:

3 tbsp soy sauce
1-1/2 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
2 green onions
sesame seeds

Directions:

Start by cutting your baguette in half, lengthwise, without going all the way through. Open it wide, remove some crumb so that you can add more tasty filling, and toast your bread.
To assemble the sandwich: spread some sauce on both sides of the bread, add the lettuce, half of the pickled vegetables, the chicken, some more sauce, the rest of the pickled vegetables, some sliced cucumber, fresh cilantro, and another leaf of lettuce. Enjoy!

TIP: You can add a hard boiled egg to this delicious Asian inspired sandwich. The classic version also uses mayo as the base spread but I don’t eat any so I’d replace it with mashed avocado! I also love to eat this as a salad. Just leave out the bread and toss everything in the sauce!

Temps total: 30-60 min pour les légumes au vinaigre et 10 min pour le sandwich

Ingrédients pour les légumes au vinaigre:

3 cups d’eau
3 c/s de vinaigre de riz
1 c/s de sucre
2 carottes (en rubans ou batons)
3 radis (en rondelles)

1. Ajoutez tous les ingrédients dans un bol, et laissez reposer pour 30 min minimum. Vous pouvez aussi les préparer à l’avance et les garder dans un bocal au frigo pendant la semaine.

Ingrédients pour le Sandwich:

1/2 baguette
légumes au vinaigre (recette ci-dessus)
restes de poulet roti (autant que vous voulez!)
1/4 concombre
coriandre fraiche
2 feuilles de laitue
ma sauce soja speciale

Ingrédients pour ma sauce soja spéciale:

3 c/s de sauce soja
1-1/2 c/s d’eau
1/2 c/s de vinaigre de riz
1/2 c/s d’huile de sesame
1/2 c/c de sucre
2 onions verts (en tranches très fines)
graines de sesame

Etapes:

Commencez par couper votre baguette en deux, sans aller jusqu’au bout. Ouvrez le pain en deux, enlever un peu de mie pour faire tenir plus de garniture, et faite le griller.
Pour assembler votre sandwich: versez un peu de sauce sur les deux cotés du pain, ajoutez une feuille de laitue, la moitié des légumes au vinaigre, le poulet en lamelles, denouveau de la sauce, le reste des légumes au vinaigre, le concombre en tranches fines, la coriandre, et une autre feuille de laitue. Bon appétit!

TIP: Vous pouvez ajouter un oeuf dur en tranches à ce délicieux sandwich aux saveurs asiatiques. LA version traditionnelle utilise de la mayonnaise au lieu de ma sauce, mais je préfère la remplacer par de l’avocat écrasé! J’aime aussi beaucoup déguster cette recette sous forme de salade. Enlevez juste le pain, et mélanger tous les ingrédients dans la sauce!