Thai Fried Omelet Banh Mi

By Andrea Nguyen

Thai Fried Omelet Banh Mi

Makes enough for 1 sandwich, takes 5 minutes

With two eggs on hand, you can make a fried egg banh mi (banh mi trung)—breakfast for many people and my own favorite anytime food. The default is to make sunny-side up eggs or a French-style omelet, but I like to fry the eggs Thai style, in hot oil, for a fluffy, golden brown omelet with a bit of crispness. It’s brilliant, simple cooking.

Ingredients

2 pinches of black or white

pepper

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon fish sauce or soy sauce

1 teaspoon water

2 large eggs, at room temperature

3 to 4 tablespoons canola oil

In a bowl, stir or whisk together the pepper, cornstarch, fish sauce, and water. Add the eggs and beat or whisk well to combine. Set aside.

Heat a wok or a small nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil to thickly film the bottom (thick as a bean sprout). Heat until the oil is very hot, nearly smoking; a drop of egg dabbed into the oil should immediately sizzle and bloom.

Pour in the egg (from as high as 12 inches / 30 cm if you love drama). It should spread and puff like a self-inflating raft. Use a spatula to pull and push the edges toward the middle, allowing excess egg to flow out into the oil to expand the size of the omelet. Expect a crazy shape and uneven texture.

When the omelet has nearly set (it’s still wet but not jiggly), raise the heat to medium-high or high. Fry for about 1 minute, until the edges are golden and the bottom browns a bit. Use one or two spatulas to flip the omelet over. Cook for 30 to 60 seconds longer, or until the bottom picks up some browning. If you like, briefly refry the first side.

Drain and cool the omelet on a rack. Blot excess oil with paper towels, if you like, then fold it over before sliding into bread for banh mi.

 Daikon and Carrot Pickle

Makes about 3 cups (750 ml) Takes about 20 minutes, plus 1 hour for marinating

If you only have one pickle for banh mi, this is it. Many banh mi shops opt to use only (or mostly) carrot for their do chua (literally “tart stuff”). In your kitchen, emphasize the slight radish funk for a sandwich with more character and cut the vegetables big enough to showcase their crunch; limp pickles get lost.

Select daikon that’s firm, relatively smooth, and no wider than 2 inches (5 cm). A batch of this pickle requires one that’s about the length of a forearm. See Notes for worthy daikon substitutes.

Ingredients

1 medium daikon, about 1 pound (450 g)

1 large carrot, about 6 ounces (180 g)

1 teaspoon salt, fine sea salt preferred

2 teaspoons plus ½ cup

(3.5 oz / 105 g) sugar

1¼ cups (300 ml) distilled white vinegar

1 cup (240 ml) lukewarm Water

Peel and cut the daikon into sticks about 3 inches (7.5 cm) long and 1⁄4 inch (6 mm) thick, the width of an average chopstick. Peel and cut the carrot to match the size of the daikon sticks but slightly skinnier.

Put the vegetables in a bowl. Toss with the salt and 2 teaspoons of the sugar. Massage and knead the vegetables for 3 minutes, or until you can bend a piece of daikon and the tips touch without breaking. They will have lost about a quarter of their original volume.

Flush with running water, then drain in a mesh strainer or colander. Press or shake to expel excess water. Transfer to a 4-cup (1 l) jar.

For the brine, stir together the remaining 1⁄2 cup (105 g) sugar with the vinegar and water until dissolved. Pour into the jar to cover well. Discard any excess brine. Use after 1 hour or refrigerate for up to a month.

Notes

If the daikon gets stinky, open the jar and let it air out for 15 minutes before using. The pickle hasn’t gone bad. When daikon is unavailable, try another radish or similar kind of vegetable, such as red radishes, watermelon radishes (red meat radish), and purple top turnips. Pickles made with watermelon and red radishes are a striking pink-orange. The turnip will be stark white.

Whatever you select, it should have bite. I usually choose red radishes a good 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, and turnips and watermelon radishes weighing about 8 ounces (225 g) each.

If using watermelon radishes or turnips, peel then cut them into sticks like you would the daikon. Treat the carrot as suggested in the main recipe.

Leave red radishes unpeeled and cut them into rounds a generous 1/8 inch (8 mm) thick. Cut the carrot lengthwise, then thinly cut the halves on the bias. The shapes won’t match, but carrot rounds take longer to pickle. After tossing the vegetables in salt and sugar, let them sit for about 10 minutes so they’ll be easier to squeeze. Brine as usual.