A Little Bit Inspired

After reading the title, you are probably bracing yourself for a long, drawn out story about what inspired me to create that little wrap you see in the above picture. Well guess what? You are right! You are gonna get a story! Well, maybe more of an explanation than a story. In any case, go grab a drink and a snack, get comfy, and prepare to get your mind blown!

Got everything? Good. Now I can weave this tale of lies, sex, heroism, and HUNGER!! Ok, maybe without the lies....and sex....and heroism. But I was hungry.

Bullshit aside, what got me to make this was my craving for a banh mi. My first thought was to simply go to Lee's Sandwiches. I was just going to order a meal, take some pics and call it a day. But I didn't want to just phone it in. I had some free time after work and some items in the fridge that needed to be used. After taking a look at everything I had, I felt a wrap was the best route to take.  But before I show you how I put it together, I gotta back up just a bit.

All of this happened because I really like Banh Mi's. If you don't know what that is, it's a Vietnamese sandwich.  In my opinion, one of it's best qualities is the overall simplicity of it. A Banh Mi looks nothing like something you would find at Subway or Quiznos. It's gonna look something like this.

It really starts with french bread. Slice the bread in half. Insert meat (giggity), veggies, cilantro, DONE. The part that can be crucial is the preparation of the protein. And that's what makes the sandwiches so special. It doesn't look like a whole lot is going on. But the taste tells a completely different story. And that is what I really wanted to do. Create something that appears basic, but really packs a punch when it comes down to taste.

After skimming through the book 'WichCraft by Tom Colicchio, I did learn one important lesson: When building a great sandwich, you have to start on the outside and work your way in. As simple as that sounds, I didn't think like that before. But it makes sense. The bread, or wrapper, is the first thing your mouth comes in contact with when eating. If that is gonna make the first impression, you have to make sure it's gonna come correct. With that line of thinking in place, it was time to choose what I was going to use. I didn't want sliced bread. A wrap was clearly in mind. But I didn't want to just use a tortilla. I thought about making some bread from scratch, but I didn't want to put in that much work. Then I remembered I had these in the freezer.

I found these roaming around the Asian market one day. I was originally just going to eat them with hummus.  But when I saw the size and how thin they were, I thought they would be perfect for my needs. Sure enough, they were.

To cook these, all you have to do is drop them in a skillet on medium heat and cook them a couple minutes on each side. You don't even have to thaw them out. Not bad for about $3.

Now, the game plan was to use some chicken thighs I had cooked up the night before. Why did I cook them the night before? Because they were gonna go bad, that's why!

Since the bread was originally gonna be used to devour hummus, I figured I could use hummus in place of mayo. Sounds good, right? Well, I thought it sounded good. So, I made a small batch and spread that on the Roti.

I sliced the chicken thighs and put that on top of the hummus.

Thinly sliced red onion and carrot shavings got added next.

Next came cilantro. To put another twist on it, I added fresh spinach.

At this point, it's time to roll up and eat!

When finished, the wrap and chicken were still warm. I took a bite, and it quickly became apparent that I had weaseled my way onto something good. It had a light, refreshing taste to it. Not heavy in any way. I don't want to sound like a cocky bastard, but if ordered this from a restaurant, I would be very pleased to get this.

As I was enjoying the wrap, I realized what this reminded me of: Lunch truck food. Now, I don't mean that in the old roach coach, "I hope this doesn't give me mud butt!" kind of way. I say that in the cool, trendy way that food trucks have become.

I really am happy with how this turned out. I could go on longer talking about this, but I think I've said enough. I will say this: Next picnic or trip to disneyland, I'm making some of these to take with me.

Until next time, my friends, take care.

J. Miller

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