Banh Mi Bowls

Banh Mi has become a big deal in our house. We love the sandwiches, but these breadless bowls deliver all the flavor of a banh mi without all the carbs normally associated with it.

For the adults, I serve this as a salad over arugula which is our favorite salad green, but it would also be delicious over romaine or a 50/50 mix, or even just fresh baby spinach. For the little ones, I normally serve this dish over rice and add in a few salad greens to their bowls. This allows the kids to try the greens without having an overwhelming plateful in front of them. I can usually get my kids to take a few bites of their vegetables which exposes them to different tastes and textures, which hopefully discourages picky eating in the future.

This dish is very weeknight friendly, and the meat was started from frozen. I mixed in balsamic vinegar which gives this an incredible flavor and tang. The usual suspects of garlic, ginger and onion can be found in this dish, as well as lime juice and fish sauce. The meat cooks “hands-off” and prep is just a matter of chopping your sides.

You can use any kind of radish of your choosing. Red radish was available at the time, but I love to use watermelon radish or daikon in this dish as well. Radish and carrots are matchsticked and sprinkled with a pinch of salt and some vinegar. I use rice wine vinegar or regular white vinegar.

For the cucumbers, I recommend slicing in half long ways, and then scraping the seeds. This prevents the cucumbers from releasing too much liquid into your food. I also don’t salt them, as this makes them extremely soft and soggy. I generally use a vegetable peeler to create ribbons, but any way you’d like to slice these would be great. Just focus on bite sized pieces.

Cilantro and green onion make a great topping to these salads/bowls. I usually soak the green onions in sesame oil and a pinch of salt. This creates a nice flavored oil for the topping.

Finally, I was never into sriracha until I made my own. I use this recipe from Michelle Tam at nomnompaleo. https://nomnompaleo.com/post/36060636540/paleo-sriracha-homemade-20-minute-sriracha. Its our go to sriracha. I make a big batch and freeze the leftovers. This mixed with mayo forms the creamy spicy dressing for the salad.

This weeknight friendly meal comes together very easily, is full of flavor, and feels like a real treat during the week.