Baked potato with a Bánh mì twist (Vietnamese Baked Potatoes Spuds)

The spuds:

4 large potatoes, preferably floury
coarse salt

The pickled veg:

125g carrot
125g daikon radish
300ml water
75ml rice vinegar
60g sugar
0.5 tsp salt

The Topping:
4 tblsp mayonnaise
2 tsp Asian fish sauce
1 tsp ground coriander
100g cucumber
1 small jalapeño chili (or substitute other fresh chili)
4 tblsp chopped fresh coriander
freshly ground black pepper

The Steps:

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Scrub the potatoes and dry them. Prick the skin all over using a fork or small knife.

Sprinkle a baking tray with some coarse salt, place the potatoes on the tray and bake until tender, which should take somewhere between an hour and an hour and a quarter, depending on size.

While the potatoes are baking, prepare the pickled veg: combine the water, rice vinegar, sugar and salt and stir to dissolve; peel and dice both the carrot and daikon, place in a small bowl and cover with the pickling liquid. Leave to stand for at least 30 minutes.

Combine the mayonnaise, fish sauce and ground coriander in a medium-sized bowl and set aside.

Dice the cucumber, chop the fresh coriander, finely chop the jalapeño.

When the potatoes are done, remove from the oven, cut each one in half, scoop out the cooked flesh and add to the bowl containing the mayonnaise mixture and mash the two together.

Drain the carrot and daikon, reserving some of the liquid.

Add the fresh coriander, jalapeño, cucumber, carrot and daikon to the mashed potato and stir to mix.

Check for salt and add more if it’s to your taste, along with a couple of twists of black pepper.

If you want a bit more of the pickle sweetness in the mash, you can stir a tblsp or two of the reserved pickle liquid into the potatoes.

Fill the baked potato shells with the mashed potato mixture and eat on their own or with other salads or maybe even with Greg’s bánh mì style roasted pork.

The Variations:

Add some spring onions next time and some lightly toasted and crushed peppercorns too.
Also could grate a little garlic into the mayonnaise if you felt so inclined.
You could try adding some crushed roasted peanuts.

The Results: Baked spuds for 4

From en.petitchef.com