A French-Vietnamese inspired hoagie style sandwich filled with crunchy flash-pickled vegetables, roasted cauliflower or tempeh, and hummus.
Have you ever tried a Bahn Mi sandwich? If you have never had one, it’s a hybrid sandwich that combines French and Vietnamese cuisine. For me, it was love at first bite. It contains tons of my favorite foods in a delicious sandwich roll and has lots of crisp flavor, crunch, and color. What’s not to love?
The first step is finding or baking incredibly soft hoagie rolls. You can purchase them at your local grocer or bakery; but I prefer making my own Submarine Sandwich Rolls, which you can find here. You can also use baguettes; but I think a nice soft hoagie style submarine roll is the perfect building block to making a great Vegetable Bahn Mi. And a huge bonus is that my submarine sandwich rolls don’t contain any salt. I recommend splitting the rolls or baguettes in half or thirds to create the perfect size sandwich roll. It just makes them easier to handle, which is especially important since these Vegetable Bahn Mi sandwiches are packed full with lots of crunchy goodness.
After you have gathered your rolls, smother your favorite hummus on each roll. You can use mayonnaise if you don’t like or have hummus. Both work beautifully on this sandwich. Mayonnaise is the traditional condiment; but I definitely recommend trying hummus first. It just adds one more flavor component that complements the sliced vegetables on this French-Vietnamese sandwich.
The third crucial step in this process is to slice up a bunch of different vegetables. You want a crunchy assortment of rainbow colors here. I like to use vegetables that contain vibrant colors and have a natural crisp factor. Crispful Crunch and Color. Try saying that three times fast. These three C’s are super important components in this sandwich. I like using cucumber, zucchini, purple onion, carrots, radishes, and cabbage. Each vegetable has gorgeous color to lure you in, fresh flavor to keep you intrigued, and a nice crunch to make you want to bite again. I promise that each bite will make you wish you made a bigger sandwich.
The next key step is to make your marinades. This recipe consists of two different sauces – one is a light pickling marinade for your sliced vegetable medley; and the other is a spicy ginger-garlic marinade for roasting your cauliflower or tempeh. Have you ever tried tempeh? I’ve had it several different ways and I don’t always like it. Like tofu, tempeh doesn’t normally have a whole lot of flavor on its own; but it does have a firm texture that works well in certain things, like this Vegetable Bahn Mi Sandwich. If you don’t want to use tempeh, I highly recommend roasting the cauliflower. It really makes a great Bahn Mi. But if you’re interested in trying something different and have never entertained tempeh before, this is a great way to enjoy it.
Once all of your vegetables are sliced up, toss them in their pickling marinade. Cut up your tempeh or cauliflower into 1-2 inch pieces and toss lightly in the spicy garlic-ginger sauce. Roast the components to a light golden brown. And then stuff your hoagie rolls with all that crunchy goodness. Bon Appetit!
Pickled Sliced Vegetable Medley Ingredients
- 1 zucchini
- 1 cucumber
- 3 purple radishes or daikon radish
- 2 carrots
- 1 cup shredded cabbage (optional)
- ½ cup rice wine vinegar
- ½ cup water
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Pickled Sliced Vegetable Medley Instructions
- Slice all of the vegetables and place them into a large container or gallon size ziploc bag.
- Combine rice wine vinegar, water, maple syrup, and crushed red pepper flakes.
- Pour the pickling marinade over the vegetables and toss to coat evenly. Set aside.
Roasted Cauliflower or Tempeh Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower OR 1 package tempeh (you choose)
- 3 Tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
- 1-3 Tbsp chili-garlic sauce (mild or spicy)
- 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup barbecue sauce
- ½ cup hummus
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped
- 4 hoagie rolls or 2 baguettes, sliced in half
Roasted Cauliflower or Tempeh Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cut the cauliflower or tempeh into 1-2 inch pieces.
- In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, rice wine vinegar, maple syrup, and water. Reserve 3-4 Tbsp for serving, if desired.
- Place the cauliflower or tempeh pieces into the marinade and toss to coat.
- Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat liner (for easier cleaning).
- Place a cooling rack on top of the baking sheet (allows air flow). (this step is optional)
- Place coated cauliflower or tempeh pieces onto the cooling rack in an even layer.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet and turn the cauliflower or tempeh over.
- Return to the oven and bake until lightly golden, about 10-15 minutes more.
- Remove to cool slightly.
- Assemble sandwiches by applying 1-2 Tbsp of hummus on inside of roll.
- Then top the hummus with layers of roasted cauliflower or tempeh, pickled vegetables, and fresh cilantro.
- Serve with a side of pickled vegetables and reserved chili-garlic sauce, if desired.
Notes
A mandolin is an absolutely essential kitchen gadget if you have the space for one. The super razor sharp knife edge on a mandolin slices all your vegetables lickety-split and is a game changer in a home kitchen. Not only is it super fast, the vegetables are all uniformly sliced so they look super great on your sandwich. ** Please be sure to use the accompanying mandolin guard and a knife mit to avoid injury.** Safety first. We’re making a delicious sandwich here, not practicing first aid skills.
The Pickled Sliced Vegetable Medley is best eaten fresh; but the combination does last 1-2 days in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
If you don’t like spicy foods, simply cut back or omit the red pepper flakes and chili-garlic sauce. They add a lot to the Bahn Mi though, so I recommend just cutting back, if needed.
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Vegetable Bahn Mi with Roasted Cauliflower or Tempeh
Equipment
- oven
Ingredients
Pickled Sliced Vegetable Medley Ingredients
- 1 zucchini
- 1 cucumber
- 3 purple radishes or daikon radish
- 2 carrots
- 1 cup shredded cabbage optional
- ½ cup rice wine vinegar
- ½ cup water
- 2 Tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Roasted Cauliflower or Tempeh Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower OR 1 package tempeh you choose
- 2-3 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1-3 Tbsp chili-garlic sauce mild or spicy
- 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 Tbsp maple syrup
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup hummus
- ½ cup cilantro chopped
- 4 hoagie rolls or 2 baguettes sliced in half
Instructions
Pickled Sliced Vegetable Medley Instructions
- Slice all of the vegetables and place them into a large container or gallon size ziploc bag.
- Combine rice wine vinegar, water, maple syrup, and crushed red pepper flakes.
- Pour the pickling marinade over the vegetables and toss to coat evenly. Set aside.
Roasted Cauliflower or Tempeh Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cut the cauliflower or tempeh into 1-2 inch pieces.
- In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, rice wine vinegar, maple syrup, and water. Reserve 2 Tbsp for serving, if desired.
- Place the cauliflower or tempeh pieces into the marinade and toss to coat.
- Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat liner (for easier cleaning).
- Place a cooling rack on top of the baking sheet (allows air flow). (this step is optional)
- Place coated cauliflower or tempeh pieces onto the cooling rack in an even layer.
- Bake for 15 minutes, and then flip cauliflower or tempeh over.
- Return to oven and bake until lightly golden, about 10-15 minutes more. Remove to cool slightly.
- Assemble sandwiches by applying 1-2 Tbsp of hummus on inside of roll.
- Layer the cauliflower or tempeh, pickled vegetables, and fresh cilantro.
- Serve with a side of pickled vegetables and reserved chili-garlic sauce, if desired.