Banh Mi Wanna Be (Vietnamese Baguette Sandwich)

The original Banh Mi uses French baguette because this is a fusion of French and Vietnamese cuisines.  However, for my home version, I just used the bread I have at home.  I never thought of making Banh Mi at home but it just so happen that I have all the ingredients at home and my girls loved it and I had to make lunch for them so I made this.

My friend introduced me to Banh Mi so I had a chance to try it.  If not, I would never thought of buying it to try.  The one I had was a lemongrass flavored chicken Banh Mi.  It had a yellow color sauce on it and pate along with sliced jalapeno, cucumber, cilantro and pickled radish and carrot on a French baguette.  The lemongrass chicken was surprisingly fragrant and it tasted delicious. 

My Banh Mi Wanna Be ingredients: honey mustard, shredded chicken breast (from leftover fried chicken takeout), whole wheat bread, pickled radish and carrot, cilantro and cucumber.  For the radish and carrot pickle, I used the recipe here, except I omitted the cucumber and used 1 tsp. of fish sauce instead of salt.

Assemble:  Whole wheat bread, top with cucumber, chicken breast and pickled radish and carrot (you can also add some Thai's sweeten chili sauce or Sriracha) .  On the other bread, spread with honey mustard and top with cilantro (you can add jalapeno too).  Cover, slice in half and enjoy!  After I had this, I thought it would be a great idea to toast the bread too.  As toasted bread would provide a crispy crunch to the texture and more similar to baguette.