For those of you who have never had a Vietnamese sandwich (formally known as banh mi), you are surely missing out. I've had these sandwiches since I was young and have loved them since. It's really simple sandwich with only a few ingredients, french roll, meat of choice (usually bbq pork, chicken, hams and pate), cilantro, pickled carrots and daikons, peppers, and a bit of mayo. Now that I don't eat meat anymore, I've been searching for good non-meat banh mi. Usually, they have deep fried tofu ones. But the ones I had are drowning in this sweet sauce that doesn't jive with me. I've also had a sardine version in New York from Nicky's in the Lower Eastside which was probably the best non-meat banh mi I've had (Ah, that ellusive New York trip that I still haven't blogged about. All blame goes to B since he was scheduled as a guest blogger to talk about the happs on that trip).

This weekend B wanted to make banh mi for dinner. So off to the store I went to grab some ingredients. The only thing missing was the "meat". Luckily I had some frozen shrimp at home and decided to saute it with some garlic and I added some curry powder for flavor.

Shrimp with their tails off, of course, and we added some S'n'P as well.

The french rolls I got were a bit on the soft side so we toasted them a bit, added some Vegenaise and the shrimp.

Next we added sliced serrano peppers and the pickled carrot and daikon mixture. We followed this recipe for the pickling mixture which was where we also got the idea in the first place. Then we added the cilantro and sprinkled a little S'n'P and we were ready to eat!

Verdict? I would have upped the curry powder a bit just to get a little more flavor in there, but otherwise it was good. I'm definitely going to try to experiment a bit more to find other yummy non-meat fillings. If you ever get the chance to try one, you definitely should. It's the perfect blend of sweet, savory and crunch all rolled up in to a sandwich! And you want to know why else these sandwiches rock? They cost anywhere from $2-4!!

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Need help in finding banh mi near you? You may be in luck! Other than the mom and pop sandwich shops you'd find in the asian district in your locale, I just discovered a chain store that serves banh mi as well as other sandwiches and vietnamese desserts, Lee's Sandwiches! Unfortunately they're mostly located in California, but there are some locations in Arizona, Oklahoma and Texas. I had tried Lee's recently on a trip down to the South Bay, but it definitely can't beat my local faves, Saigon Sandwich in the Tenderloin and Little Vietnam Cafe in the Richmond.