Pickled Toppings:

1 Large Shredded Carrots

3/4 of a Large Cucumber

2 Tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Sugar

Dash of Kosher Salt

Ground Meat:

1 Pound of Ground Pork

1/2 Cup Mayonnaise

3 Tablespoons of Sambal Oelek

Combining Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon of Vegetable Oil

3/4 of a bundle of Scallions (Green Onions) Chop Finely

4 Garlic Cloves

2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce

2 Dashes of Black Pepper

2 Dashes of Kosher Salt

1 Lime

Sandwich

Baguette or Bolillos

Jalapeno

Cilantro

1) Start your journey by getting a bowl and adding shredded carrots. Also, add either julienned or thinly sliced cucumber. Add rice wine vinegar, sugar, and salt to the mixture. Stir everything to give it an even coating, and let it sit while you move on. You can also add radishes to pickled vegetables if desired.

2) Take the ground pork and mix it with the mayonnaise. Make sure to break up the pork while stirring. Add Sambal Oelek Chili Paste. If you are unable to find that, you can substitute Sriracha. Sriracha will make it more acidic and add a vinegar taste to the mixture. Sambal will add heat to the mixture but not affect the flavor.

3) In a separate large pan, heat vegetable oil, sliced scallions, and garlic cloves while stirring for a minute over medium-high heat. When selecting scallions, make sure that they still have their roots and that the white part is firm when pressed on.

4) Add meat mixture and cook until no pink is visible. Continue to break up meat while cooking and stirring to cook meat thoroughly. Add fish sauce and stir. Once evenly distributed, add black pepper and salt. Cool mixture for 5 minutes and add the juice from half a lime to mixture. Taste. If more lime is needed, add it, or if you think it is fine, slice the lime for people around the table who are silly and disagree because, as we know, Chefs know best. You can add more chili at this point if you need more heat, but you can always add it in the next step with the jalapeno pepper

5) Cut bread in half and toast if desired over the stove in a large pan. Bolillos may need to be toasted more since they can be pretty soft. The baguette may not be since they are pretty, pretty sturdy. Place the finished ground pork into the bread.

6) Let people add their own desired amount of pickled vegetables, cilantro, and thinly sliced jalapeno. If you are looking for hot jalapenos, look for ones that are firm, crack when you press down on them and have lines on them. Kansas City, Kansas Public Library holds no responsibility for how hot you make your Banh Mi. Enjoy!