By Andrea Nguyen
I’ve been thinking about a vegetarian pate and fried egg banh mi since I had a liver pate and fried egg banh mi in Saigon back in 2014. It was my second breakfast that day. The banh mi vendor, Mai Thi Hoang, situated herself outside the gate where my apartment hotel was located. As it turned out, she lived nearby and operated her banh mi stall for extra pocket money, she told me. Her husband had an office job and her son was in college. I liked her spirit. We were both born in 1969. Hers was one of the best banh mi sandwiches I had in Saigon on that trip.
So I’ve been mentally chewing on her sandwich for a couple of years now and as fate would have it, I had a mess of mushrooms in the fridge this week from client project. Plus, there was a block of super-firm tofu. Those were the feature ingredients in this recipe, which I’d drafted long ago but since I wasn’t fully satisfied with it and we didn’t have space to fit it in The Banh Mi Handbook, the recipe got filed. But it was not forgotten.
Revisiting a draft recipe is an opportunity for me to question and validate my instructions. I am often my worse critic, but such self-inflicted skepticism can lead to discoveries!
Why make a mushroom pate for banh mi? If touching or eating liver isn’t your thing, a mushroom pâté may your thing. Or, if you enjoy meatless foods, the pate is great to have around. I developed the vegetarian spread to be rich, earthy, and taupe colored – just like its animal counterpart. To make a vegan mushroom pate, I used super-firm tofu and imbued it with fresh mushroom flavor. You could add some rehydrated dried porcini but I didn’t find it necessary. Cremini (sometimes spelled crimini, too) has more flavor than white mushroom, and they’re about same price.
The tofu lends body and protein while soaking up the mushroomy goodness. In a pinch, substitute 6 ounces of extra-firm tofu for the super-firm but expect the result to be softer in texture and less intense in flavor. (See Randy's question in comments got me thinking about a possible extra-firm tofu workaround: cut it into the small cubes then let them drain and firm up on paper towel or a dishtowel for 30 to 45 minutes. That will impact the texture some.)
For Viet banh mi character, I flavored the pate with fresh cilantro, Chinese five-spice (Spicely makes a good blend), and Maggi Seasoning sauce. I let the pate sit overnight and the flavor seemed to fade a little. I wanted a little umami goodness so I added salt and as experiment, some green olive brine from a jar of Trader Joe’s Greek olives. The brine is savory and a touch tangy and helped to create a more robust flavor. (Pam asked a great question about the brine so check out my answer in the Comments section.)
Then what I'd been working up toward -- I made my fried egg sandwich for lunch.
For crisp edges and bottoms, I fried the eggs in a carbon steel skillet over medium-high with a splash of oil, and partially covered it after the egg set. That's an Armenian cucumber I harvested from the garden. You could use chile slices or sriracha sauce for heat. I sprinkled on lots of black pepper because I like it that way.
It was great sandwich, lighter than a regular liver pate and fried banh mi. You can just have the mushroom as a spread on a cracker or cucumber slice! Banh appetit.
Mushroom Pate (Pate Nam Chay)
Author Andrea Nguyen
Yield 1 ¼ cups
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cremini mushroom
- 4 ounces super-firm tofu (sold in vacuum-sealed packages, sometimes labeled “high protein”)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter or neutral oil such as canola
- 1 shallot, chopped (¼ cup)
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- ⅓ cup coarsely chopped cilantro sprigs (a small handful)
- Generous ¼ teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder, such as Spicely brand
- About 1 ½ teaspoons Maggi Seasoning liquid, or 2 teaspoons Braggs Liquid Aminos
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- Green olive brining liquid (optional)
Instructions
- Trim the darkened ends from the mushroom stems. Cut the caps and stems into pieces about the size of your thumbnail. Put into a bowl. Cut the tofu into pieces the size of your pinkie nail. Add to the mushroom.
- Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the butter or pour in the oil. Add the shallot and cook, stirring for 4 to 5 minutes, until mostly golden.
- Add the garlic and cilantro, then stir to aromatize. Add the mushroom, tofu, Maggi (or Braggs), salt, and pepper. Cover and lower the heat to medium-low to low in order for the mixture to gently hiss and bubble. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring midway, until the mushroom pieces are half their original size.
- Uncover and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring often, to concentrate the flavor. When no liquid is visible, remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes. Use a food processor to turn the mixture into a smooth, taupe-colored spread.
- Taste and season with extra Maggi, salt, and pepper for robust savory, spicy finish. Stir in green olive brine by the teaspoon for extra savory oomph, if you like. Let the flavors develop for about 15 minutes before using. Refrigerate for up to 5 days. Serve at room temperature.
Courses Snack, banh mi
Cuisine Vietnamese
Related posts:
- How to Find Organic Non-GMO Tofu, Soy Sauce, and Other Soy Foods (+ Does it Matter?)
- Fried eggplant banh mi recipe
- Banh mi bread buying tips (I made my own here but don't always use homemade!)
More Recipes: All
- Vietnamese Bolognese (Bo Kho Meat Sauce)
- Hawaiian Tofu Watercress Salad Recipe
- Vietnamese Chile Sauce Recipe (Tuong Ot Vietnam)
- Persimmon Spice Cookies
Reader Interactions
Comments
David
Looks great! I made the appropriate additions to tomorrow's grocery list. Thanks, Andrea.
Randy Simpson
I really want to make this, but super-firm tofu is not sold anywhere in Austin. So can I make it myself? If I follow the recipe and guidelines in Asian Tofu, can I use maybe a 5 pound weight and press for half an hour? Thanks!
Pam Ladds
Thank you! I'm a vegetarian and mushroom junkie. Will make this in a couple of days. Curious about the brine. I live in the middle of nowhere, no Trader Joe within 2 hours! So making a brine with that degree of flavor makes sense to me, and to use it for many things. Do you have a clue what makes TJ's so special? Magic ingredients?
Andrea Nguyen
That's a great question but in all honesty, Trader Joe's green olives were just what I had. I don't think it's super special, though I don't go around tasting olive brine much. You could use any brine of a big-flavored green olive. Dark brine would darken the pate mixture but maybe some time you want that! The brine from a mild olive wouldn't do that much and you may have to use a lot, thereby softening the mixture too much, before you get the flavor you want.
Andrea Nguyen
Oh my. Then I'd buy extra-firm tofu. Buy it. I don't think it's worth making tofu for this.
I just thought of this... use 6 ounces of extra-firm tofu, cut it into small cubes then let it sit on paper towel or a dish towel for 30 to 45 minutes to allow it to drain. That will firm it up some before you put it in the pot.Andrea Nguyen
Hooray! I hope you like it.
Randy Simpson
Come to think of it, I have a really great tofu press that firms a block up considerably.
Julia
Thank you for the reciepe 🙂
MerryB
Hello Andrea Nguyen,
Thank you for your books and vietworldkitchen website. They have been wonderful for reading and cooking.
This mushroom pate for banh mi looks really tasty.
I came up allergic to soy and other legumes a couple of years ago. Do you or anyone else have any thoughts about what could substitute for soy products in Vietnamese cooking? I've not come to any satisfactory ideas. Usually I leave the soy out. I don't care if anyone thinks of something vegan, vegetarian, or omnivorous-- I would just be thrilled to have it be tasty in Vietnamese cooking.Melissa
I love this recipe and I think this will be my go to mushroom recipe. I just made the mushroom pate WITHOUT tofu and used 1/2 cup of roasted walnuts instead of the tofu. It still was delicious!
Andrea Nguyen
Love it. Thanks for the feedback and sharing your substitution!
Andrea Nguyen
Hi MerryB -- No problem! Make a regular liver pate. I have 2 recipes in The Banh Mi Handbook that are just terrific. There's no soy or soy sauce involved in them. There's a delicious gateway chicken liver pate and a quick one made with store-bought liverwurst.
Here's a little about the book:
https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2014/06/banh-mi-handbook-review-recipes.html
Your library may have it. Otherwise, it's available at amazon: http://amzn.to/2x6xlScCatherine M Bohner
So good, thank you!! I used the recipe more as inspiration than rules since I was looking for a pate I could whip up with stuff I typically have when I get a hankering for banh mi. Since you added the olive brine for umami, I almost added some tomato paste before remembering I have hoisin. So my substitutions were: 1/2 rehydrated shiitake for the mushrooms (I ran out of cremini), about 1 tsp fish sauce and hoisin in the saute, a dash of nutmeg instead of 5-spice, generic cheap fresh tofu block from the Asian market (excess water squeezed perfunctorily and tofu crumbled - I didn't have any texture/moisture issues), and in step 4 I turned up the heat and let things brown a bit for extra flavor. And I actually used green onion instead of shallot but shallot would have been better. I just didn't want to go shopping!
Andrea Nguyen
Such a smart idea!!! Thanks for generously sharing your tweaks.
Alison
I assume the Chinese five spice goes in the pot with the rest of the ingredients?
Andrea Nguyen
Yes!
