Start with baked tofu, end with vegetarian banh mi
Baking tofu is a terrific and healthful alternative to frying. Marinate it in a gingery soy and chili sauce mixture, spread it on a baking sheet, sprinkle with scallions, peanuts, and ginger, and send it into the oven. Thirty minutes later you have tofu with crisp edges and a caramelized topping. While it bakes, stir-fry carrots, cabbage, asparagus, and watercress and set both over wide rice noodles.
Save some tofu for banh mi, the delicious Vietnamese sandwich that typically contains pate and meat. Here it takes a vegetarian turn, but retains the sweet, hot crunch of the traditional dish with mayonnaise and chili sauce on the bread, which is layered with pickled carrots and daikon, fresh cilantro, and cucumbers. Try to find crackly baguettes because French bread in Vietnam, made with some rice flour, is especially light and crisp. After you make it once, you may find yourself tucking all kinds of other leftovers into banh mi, until the sandwich becomes your house specialty.
Shopping list
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(For tofu, banh mi)
2 blocks (1 pound each) extra-firm tofu
3 large carrots
2 daikon
½ Savoy cabbage
1 pound asparagus
1 bunch watercress
½ English cucumber
8 scallions
1 lime
2 jalapeno peppers
½ bunch fresh cilantro
1½ teaspoons dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 piece (2 inches) fresh ginger
1?
loaves French bread
Salt
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup distilled white vinegar
?
cup mayonnaise
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup sweet red chili sauce
¼ cup dry-roasted peanuts
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 package (6 ounces) wide rice noodles
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