Trưng Chien -- Banh Mi with Eggs

As I receive more and more cucumbers in my CSA, I continue to make pickles. Though banh mi traditionally use pickled carrots and daikon, I figured I could sub the cucumbers for daikon, thus extending their life. A mandolin works well, I hear, but I ended up chopping matchsticks the good old-fashioned way.

Look at these interesting cukes from my CSA! I haven't seen this type before, and initially thought it was squash, until I cut into one. Nope, this is definitely a cucumber. I made some dill pickles with these and really liked how firm they stayed. Here is me filling my jar--once again, I am not processing these, I'm just making quick refrigerator pickles. (though if I keep receiving cukes at this rate, I'm going to have to break down and learn how to can them!)

I used the brine recipe from White On Rice couple's Banh Mi Battle page. It is perfect--and I could tell by looking that it wouldn't be quite so vinegary. I like a slightly less potent vinegar taste for my brine. Here is the link to their recipe. Its really great--I'm excited to see how the pickles evolve over a few days. I also added a few more cuke slices to my dill pickle jar.

True story--I made the pickles last night and woke up wanting to try them RIGHT AWAY. So, here's my breakfast banh mi, with an egg over easy. Oh my yum. This is a very messy sandwich, but the yolk spilling over and soaking the bread and mingling with the sweet pickled vegetables and spicy jalapenos....yum!

Here are all the fixings for my dinner banh mi, that I packed up and took to work with me. I scramble/fried an egg for this one, and even though I'd made it 3-4 hours prior to eating, it tasted absolutely fine.
Come here, my pretty :)


I love all the fresh vegetables of summertime!