These egg salad sandwiches are inspired by the oh-so delicious Vietnamese sandwich that’s typically made with meat (or sometimes tofu), meat pâté, pickled veggies, jalapeños, and fresh herbs all piled on a perfectly chewy-yet-soft-inside-yet-crunchy-outside baguette. But instead of meat or tofu, this one’s stuffed with egg salad. Obvious choice, right?

I know, not obvious.

Here’s how I came up with the idea.

Our local Vietnamese restaurant has delicious banh mi sandwiches. I get mine with tofu, my guy gets his with chicken or pork. But they also top every sandwich with a fried egg. Which sort of threw me for a loop at first, but then, I dug it. A lot.

So when it came time for me to finally try my hand at banh mi at home, something in me was screaming “Egg! Egg!” And then I came to the egg salad place and thought, hmm, that just might work and then we tried it all topped with Sriracha and it was glorious and the end.

I arrive at my recipe ideas in the most elegant fashion, as you can see. 😉

So yep. Egg Salad Banh Mi. Cringe if you must, but by now you know I was not going for authentic – I was just going for something fun. A delicious vegetarian banh mi situation + a little spin on egg salad. A veggie-laden egg salad inside a perfectly crunchy-crusted baguette, topped with a pile of quick-pickled veggies …

… and then loaded up with fresh herbs in true banh-mi fashion. And THEN drizzled with Sriracha sauce because hello, Sriracha sauce.

Basically, this is the best egg salad sandwich I’ve ever had. Possibly the messiest, but also the best.

Oh, and one nice thing about this one is that you can prep the veggies and make the egg salad ahead of time. So then all you have left to do is slice the bread, toast it if you want, and assemble. And, of course, eat!

More Vegetarian Sandwich Recipes

• Ultimate Veggie BLT
• Vegetarian Club Sandwich
• Grilled Veggie Sandwich
• Chickpea Salad Sandwich
• Cauliflower Steak Sandwich
• Roasted Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Sandwich
• The Perfect Grilled Cheese

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Bahn Mi-Inspired Egg Salad Sandwiches

Next-level egg salad! Piled high with quick-marinated veggies, fresh cilantro and mint, some jalapeños and Sriracha for heat; all on a crunchy-chewy-soft golden baguette. Egg-xtradordinarily tasty!

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4 (5-inch) sandwiches

Author Kare

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shredded carrot
• 1/2 cup shredded daikon radish
• 1/2 cup sliced cucumbers halved
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons light agave nectar can sub granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 10-inch French bread baguettes, sliced in half (but still attached on one side) (My favorite for banh mi are these take-and-bake French demi baguettes – they toast up perfect for these sandwiches)
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro stems removed
• 2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper thinly sliced
• Sriracha to taste (optional)

For the egg salad:

• 3 hard-boiled eggs peeled and chopped (I use my Instant Pot for hard-boiled eggs – so easy!)
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Make the marinated veggies. Place carrots, daikon radish, cucumbers, vinegar, agave nectar, and salt in a medium bowl. Toss well. Set aside and let sit for 10-30 minutes.
• While the veggies sit, make the egg salad. In a small bowl, mix the chopped eggs, mayo, salt, and pepper. Taste and add more salt and pepper if desired.
• Half the bread, keeping one side attached. Toast if desired. Place bread under the broiler until pale golden and a bit crusty (mine takes about 1 minute). Remove from oven. Or, if you’re doing a take-and-bake baguette situation, hurry and bake ’em on up!
• Slather tops of bread with the remaining 2 tablespoons mayonnaise. Divide egg salad between sandwiches, piling/spreading on lower half. Top each half with pickled veggies (go ahead, load it up!) and scatter jalapeños over the top (a lot for more heat and less for … well you get what I’m saying). Cover with cilantro and mint. Squeeze Sriracha over the top of each, if desired (a little goes a long way!)
• Close the sandwich (the best you can) and slice in half. Serve immediately. Makes 4 (5-inch) sandwiches.

The post Banh Mi-Inspired Egg Salad Sandwiches appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

For me, this time of year is simultaneously wonderful and, well, kind of tough.

I love the idea of cozying up and basically straight-up hibernating – and I love it a little more every year. Last winter, I learned all about the Danish concept of Hygge and suddenly the whole idea of cocooning and cozying up etc. felt legit.

But for an introvert like myself, the impending winter can also be an excuse to stay home instead of dragging myself out to do social stuff. To a fault. That, combined with the complete lack of vitamin D available in the Pacific Northwest between October and April, can send me easily into a bit of a spiral.

So, my goal is this year is balance. Plenty of cozying up and embracing this dark and stormy season, but also faithfully popping my vitamin D supplement, getting outside whenever I can, and dragging my rear out of the house to see friends as often as possible.

I suppose this line of thought doesn’t have much to do with these baked butternut squash fries, except for the fact that both things happen in the fall and winter.

I will say that butternut squash fries are definitely one of those things that lands on the positive side of the winter equation, however. They’re especially delicious eaten cozied up in a blanket in front of the fire. Just saying.

Now, these fries are not crispy, except for a few magical end pieces here and there. They’re not even very rigid – many of them are a bit fragile and bend and break. PLEASE DON’T LET THIS STOP YOU FROM TRYING THEM! Oven-baked butternut squash fries are absolutely delicious, just as they are. Okay, even more so when coated in Chinese five-spice blend as they are here.

Chinese five-spice is a blend of warming spices such as anise, star anise, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger, or sometimes cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, or even fennel. Perfect fall and winter flavors if you ask me – and ideal with roasted butternut squash.

I wanted to keep these on the healthy side, but every time I tried them, I just couldn’t get over the fact that they really call for a creamy, dreamy dipping sauce. So I broke out the mayo and I do not regret it one bit.

The sauce is simply mayo, Sriracha, and Tamari, and it’s the perfect companion to these fries. If I’m watching my portion control, I might just drizzle a tablespoon of the dipping sauce over a bit plate of these instead of serving the dip alongside.

Or I might just go for it.

Happy Winter!

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Butternut Squash Fries

Generously coated in warming spices and roasted to delicious golden perfection. Don’t skip the spicy dipping sauce!

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

Author Kare

Ingredients

5-Spice Butternut Squash Fries

• 1 medium approx. 2 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into approx. 1/2-inch square, 4-inch long spears (here are some tips for cutting butternut squash)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Chinese 5-spice blend
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt + more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Spicy Sriracha Dipping Sauce:

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise vegans use vegan mayo
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
• 1 tablespoon Tamari or soy sauce start with less if using soy sauce then add more to taste – it’s saltier than soy sauce

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Set out a large rimmed cookie sheet.
• Place cut butternut squash into a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with 5-spice blend, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and black pepper. Use clean fingers to toss well, making sure each piece is coated with olive oil and spices. Pour onto cookie sheet and spread into a single layer. Try to make sure there’s a bit of space around each piece; if you need to divide the fries between two cookie sheets, that’s fine.
• Bake until tender and golden, about 40 minutes, carefully tossing 2-3 times while baking (they’ll be a bit fragile).
• While the fries bake, make the Spicy Sriracha Dipping Sauce. To a small bowl, add the mayo, Sriracha, and Tamari. Mix with a small whisk or fork until smooth.
• Serve fries right away with the dipping sauce alongside.

The post Butternut Squash Fries appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

But if consuming less dairy means I’m eating more simple vegan recipes like this Maple-Sriracha Roasted Cauliflower, well … cheese, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Roasted cauliflower is a seriously addicting snack. Or side. Or main. It gets tender, goldeny-caramelized, and a little crispy edged as it roasts, transforming into something so utterly scrumptious that it’s entirely possible to eat a whole head of cauliflower this way. Not that I, um, know anything about that (see: less-than-stellar eating habits again).

But adding pure maple syrup and spicy Sriracha to the mix? Oh. My. Stars. Roasted cauliflower just got a heckuva lot more addicting. Not that I needed for that to happen.

It’s super-duper easy to make. Just toss bite-sized cauli florets in a mix of olive oil, maple syrup, Sriracha, salt, and pepper. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake for about 25 minutes, and sweet/spicy nirvana awaits.

I like to serve it up with a few extra dots of Sriracha for a little extra kick. So. Good.

You could also present it wing-style with a cooling dip like blue cheese or ranch, and maybe a few celery sticks, even. But I have enough of a problem controlling myself around this stuff just the way it is, straight-up. Ah well, at least it’s cauliflower instead of cheese.

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Maple-Sriracha Roasted Cauliflower

Cauliflower, tossed in maple syrup and spicy Sriracha, gets crispy-edged and caramelized in the oven. This irresistibly sweet/spicy cauliflower is equally perfect for game-day snacking, a dinner side, or just straight-up lunch.

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 2 -4 servings

Author Kare

Ingredients

• 1 approx. 2-pound head cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce + more for serving if desired
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
•  

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, maple syrup, Sriracha sauce, salt, and black pepper. Add the cauliflower and toss until well-coated. Spread on a large rimmed baking sheet and bake, stirring once, until tender and golden brown, about 25 minutes. Serve with additional Sriracha sauce, if desired.

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Orrrr … yeah. Maybe I’ll just make vegetarian pho from scratch at home now and then, and that’ll be plenty good enough.

So surely you have had (and love) pho, right? Giant bowls of comforting rice noodles swimming in a steamy, aromatic broth (think savory joining up with cloves, star anise, and cinnamon). Traditionally, pho is made with beef – but when us vegetarians get lucky, a pho restaurant will serve a gorgeous vegetarian broth punctuated with tofu, mushrooms, maybe even some broccoli, carrots, or bok choy.

But at its core, pho is noodles and broth. And then the sky is the limit. And when you make vegetarian pho from scratch, you can customize it how you like it, from the broth to what you put into your soup to what you top it with.

Oh, the toppings! Glorious, glorious pho toppings.

Most of the aforementioned punny restaurants around here put a big plate of Thai basil, bean sprouts, lime wedges, and jalapeno slices in front of you, along with some Hoisin sauce and Sriracha. Plop in a pepper for heat, pile with sprouts, tear up a whole bunch of basil and pile it on, squirt on some sauces, squeeze a little lime over the whole glorious mess … it’s all to your liking. That’s the beauty of pho.

So here’s the scoop on making it at home. I’ll be honest – I thought it would be pretty simple to do, but making vegetarian pho from scratch actually is a little time-consuming. The broth, of course, takes the longest to make, though most of that is cooking time. I like to double the recipe and freeze what’s left for (easier) homemade pho down the road.

Once the broth-makin’ is out of the way, you just cook the rice noodles and get all of the remaining soup ingredients and the toppings ready. I use dry noodles – just a quick two-minute-long dunk into boiling water and they’re ready.

For my meat-eating guy, I have the butcher at my local grocery store thinly slice some top round. The noodles go into the bowl, followed by a few slices of the raw beef, and then you pour the boiling broth over the top – it cooks the beef instantly.

Meanwhile, my vegetarian version gets a few sliced mushrooms and maybe a few cubes of tofu. And then we top.

Pho really is fun to make at home, and when you start with a (still-delicious!) meatless broth, you can customize individual bowls for carnivores and vegetarians alike.

Vegetarian Vietnamese soup pho the win!

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Vegetarian Pho from Scratch (with Optional Beef for the Meat-Eaters)

Homemade vegetarian pho from scratch. Rice noodles – and whatever else you like – swim in a delicious, aromatic broth. Plus, pho is perfect for customizing to individual tastes. Freeze any leftover broth for easy homemade pho later on.

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

Author Kare

Ingredients

Broth:

• 12 cups water
• 3 medium sweet onions peeled and quartered
• 4 medium carrots cut into 3-inch chunks
• 1 medium bulb garlic top cut off and halved
• 1/2 cup dried shiitake or porcini mushrooms
• 1 stalk lemongrass halved and smashed lightly
• 2 thumb-size pieces of fresh ginger sliced
• 3 star anise
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 6- inch cinnamon stick
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• Kosher salt and/or a few dashes of soy sauce to taste

For the soup:

Banh Pho flat rice noodles (1 to 2 ounces per serving), plus any of the following:

• Cubed extra-firm tofu or crispy air fryer tofu*
• Sliced mushrooms
• Broccoli florets
• Sliced carrots
• Chopped baby bok choy
• Very thinly sliced top round steak about 1/8 pound per serving

Toppings:

• Fresh Thai basil
• Bean sprouts
• Fresh jalapeno slices
• Fresh lime wedges
• Hoisin sauce be sure to find a vegetarian version
• Sriracha sauce

Instructions

Make the broth:

• Add all ingredients to a large stock pot and stir. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes.
• Remove from heat and let cool until safe to handle. Place a colander over a large bowl and pour broth into colander. Discard solids. Strain one more time to remove all the bits and pieces: Place a fine-mesh sieve over the stock pot and pour the both back into the pot, through the sieve. Taste, adding salt if desired. Return to the stove and bring to a boil.

Cook the noodles:

• Either follow package directions, or, if no clear directions, bring a pot of water to boiling. Turn off heat. Add noodles to water and stir gently until softened, about 1 – 2 minutes. Strain noodles and rinse under cold water to prevent sticking.
• Assemble your soup!
• Add noodles to a large bowl. Top with vegetables, tofu, and/or beef, as desired. Carefully pour boiling-hot broth over the veggies/tofu/beef, taking care to dunk the beef under the broth so all of the beef cooks in the hot broth. The veggies will blanch in the broth, too, so they should be tender enough by the time you’re ready to eat.
• Serve with assorted toppings.

Notes

*Find Crispy Air Fryer Tofu recipe here

The post Vegetarian Pho appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.

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The beans (I start with dried pinto beans) are first cooked simply – with onion, bay leaf and black peppercorns. Then the cooked beans are placed in the Crock Pot for some nice low-and-slow action, infusing every last bite with the rich sauce made with pure maple syrup and the spicy kick of everyone’s beloved Sriracha.

These baked beans are perfect, of course, as a side dish, but they’re also plenty hearty enough to act as a main dish too. Both my meat-eating guy and I love ’em with a side of buttered cornbread for a nice, simple, delicious dinner. And they’re even worthy of special occasions. This past Christmas Eve, I brought these along as a side to be served alongside a big smoked ham. They were a hit.

Adjust the Sriracha depending on your tolerance for heat. And remember, a little goes a long way!

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Slow-Cooker Vegetarian Maple-Sriracha Baked Beans

Vegetarian baked beans recipe that slow cooks to perfection right in your Crock Pot. Pure maple syrup and the spicy kick of Sriracha make them special - and absolutely delicious.

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 hours hours

Total Time 15 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 8 servings

Author Kare

Ingredients

• 1 1- pound bag pinto beans
• 1 medium onion cut into eighths
• 1 bay leaf
• Small handful of black peppercorns
• 1 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce for a nice subtle kick or up to 3 tablespoons for more heat
• 2 teaspoons vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Rinse and sort the beans and add them to a large pan. Soak them in two quarts of cold water overnight. You can also bring two quarts of water to a boil, add the beans, and soak them for a couple of hours. Pretty much every bag of dried beans will have specific instructions for soaking.
• After soaking, drain the beans, add them back to the pan and fill the pan with enough water to cover one or two inches above the beans. Place beans over medium heat. Add the onion, bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low. Simmer the beans for about two hours, or until tender. Drain.
• Add drained beans to Crock Pot. Add the maple syrup, ketchup, brown sugar, sriracha, Worchestershire sauce, ground ginger, and salt. Stir.
• Cook on low for about 10 hours.

2.2.6

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