Recipe Vietnamese-style loaded fries
Inspired by Vietnam’s famous banh mi sandwich, a popular street food with hot, spicy and sweet flavours, these fries are loaded with sweet glazed tofu, quick pickled vegetables, mayonnaise and hot sauce. If you have an air fryer, you can use it to cook the fries.
Recipe tips
Japanese mayonnaise is richer and creamier than European-style mayo; it is made with rice vinegar and is usually sold in a squeezy bottle. If you can’t find it, you can use regular mayo instead.
Vietnamese-style loaded fries
Ingredients
- 500g/1lb 2oz frozen French fries
- For the quick pickled vegetables
- 4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp golden caster sugar
- 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
- 4–6 radishes, thinly sliced
- For the glazed tofu
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp lemongrass paste
- 1 tsp soft light brown sugar
- 1 lime, juice only
- 280g/10oz extra firm tofu, drained
- ½ tbsp light oil
- small handful fresh coriander leaves, to garnish
- Japanese mayonnaise, to serve
- sriracha chilli sauce, to serve
Instructions
- Cook the French fries according to packet instructions, or for 20 minutes on the chip setting (this should be roughly 200C) in an air fryer.
- Meanwhile, make the quick pickles. In a small bowl, stir the vinegar, salt and caster sugar together until dissolved. Add the vegetables, stir to coat in the pickling liquid and set aside.
- To make the sauce for the glazed tofu, whisk together the soy sauce, lemongrass paste, brown sugar and lime juice in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Squeeze as much excess moisture as possible out of the tofu and pat dry on kitchen paper. Cut into bite-sized cubes.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium–high heat until shimmering. Add the tofu and fry for about 15 minutes, turning occasionally. The tofu cubes should become slightly browned and crisped around the edges.
- Turn the heat up to high and add the sauce. Leave the sauce to bubble away, stirring occasionally, until it has reduced to a sticky glaze that coats the tofu cubes.
- Divide the cooked French fries between two bowls and divide the tofu pieces between them. Pat the quick pickles dry on kitchen paper and sprinkle them over the bowls along with the coriander leaves. Drizzle each bowl generously with Japanese mayonnaise and sriracha sauce before serving.
Fruit and vegetables
1 tbsp finely chopped Thai basil (or regular basil)1 carrot, peeled into ribbons
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
handful coriander, finely chopped, plus extra to garnish
¼ cucumber, peeled into ribbons
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp lemongrass paste
1 lime, zest only
1 lime, juice only
1 tbsp finely chopped mint 1 banana shallot, finely chopped Tins, packets and jars 4 tsp vegan mayonnaise plain flour, for dusting Cooking ingredients 1 tsp brown sugar 5 tbsp buckwheat flour, or other flour (wholemeal, gram, spelt or rye) 1 tbsp olive oil 2 tsp soy sauce 3 tbsp sriracha 2 tsp sriracha 1 tbsp tomato purée Dairy, eggs and chilled 300g/10½oz extra-firm tofu, pressed to remove excess liquid
Notes
Inspired by Vietnam’s famous banh mi sandwich, a popular street food with hot, spicy and sweet flavours, these fries are loaded with sweet glazed tofu, quick pickled vegetables, mayonnaise and hot sauce. If you have an air fryer, you can use it to cook the fries.
Japanese mayonnaise is richer and creamier than European-style mayo; it is made with rice vinegar and is usually sold in a squeezy bottle. If you can’t find it, you can use regular mayo instead.
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