Pork meatball bánh-mì-style sandwich

Prep time: 25 minutes, plus pickling and chilling time Cook time: 20 minutes

Serves 4

A French-vietnamese hybrid, this is the classic sandwich originally sold on the streets of what was then Saigon. There, the sandwiches often contain fatty pork pâté, slices of a steamed pork roll seasoned with fish sauce, or giò thu, a Vietnamese version of brawn. Meatballs for them are usually poached in stock but I prefer to fry them.

INGREDIENTS For the vegetables

– 1 tbsp caster sugar

– 125ml rice vinegar

– 4 radishes, trimmed, sliced wafer-thin

– 2 small carrots, peeled, trimmed and cut into fine batons

– ⅓ daikon, peeled, trimmed and cut into fine batons

For the meatballs

– 500g minced pork

– 2 tbsp finely shredded

Thai basil

– 1 tbsp finely chopped

coriander

– 1½ tsp grated root ginger (or ½ tsp dried ginger)

– 4 garlic cloves, grated to a purée

– 2 spring onions, very finely chopped

– 1 tbsp fish sauce

– 1 tbsp sriracha or other hot sauce

– 1 tbsp caster sugar or soft light-brown sugar

– 2 tsp cornflour

– about 2 tbsp olive oil, for frying

For the mayo

– 115g mayonnaise

– 1 small garlic clove, crushed

– squeeze of lime

– 2 tsp sriracha or other hot sauce (add to taste

– you can use more if you want)

To serve

– 4 small baguettes

– handful of coriander sprigs

– 2 red chillies, deseeded and chopped (optional)

METHOD

Start with the vegetables. Stir the sugar into the rice vinegar, vigorously, until the sugar has dissolved. Put the vegetables in a bowl and pour the pickling liquor over them. Leave for about an hour.

Using your hands, mix together all the meatball ingredients (except the oil) with a good amount of seasoning. Make sure everything is well combined.

With wet hands, roll the mixture into balls about the size of a walnut in its shell. You should end up with 24. Put them on a plate or tray as you go. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Mix the mayo ingredients together.

Heat the oil in a frying pan (or two pans) and fry the meatballs over a medium heat for a couple of minutes. You want a good colour on the outside but they also have to cook through to the middle, so don’t colour the outside too dark too quickly. Lower the heat and cook the meatballs through (it will take about 15 minutes), turning them over every so often. Halve the baguettes and pull out some of the dough in the bottom half (to make space for the meatballs).

Spoon some mayo into each baguette, followed by the drained pickled veg, then the meatballs, more mayo and coriander (add the chopped chilli if you want more heat).