tofu banh mi

I have a strange fascination with banh mi.  I say "strange" because I really haven't had authentic banh mi.  The only ones I've eaten are the ones at Native Foods and at Lee's sandwiches.  This is embarrassing to admit,  Please don't give me grief, and if you have a recommendation for a place to get good banh mi, please post it in the comments.

Earlier in the week, Drew and I made tofu banh mi, using the recipe from Post Punk Kitchen.    

It was easy to make, and making the pickled veggies earlier in the day really helped.  The pickled veggies were really good, but too salty, even on the sandwich.  I would not hesitate to use this recipe again, but I would cut the salt in half.  Also, I couldn't find star anise in the store last weekend, so I used fennel seed instead.   

Don't be scared off by the tofu; if it's made properly, it can be really good.  (I will note that the recipe calls for scrambled tofu, but we ignored that part.  Basically, the only part of the recipe we used was the part for the pickled veggies.)  Not surprisingly, I think we do a pretty good job, and by "we," I really mean Drew (he is always in charge of the tofu because I'm not good at making marinades without a recipe).  I'm sure there are many ways to make tofu, but there are only two ways that we make it: scrambling it (for breakfast burritos) or baking it.  We first press it for about 30 minutes to expel as much water as possible.  Then Drew makes up some sort of marinade (this time it consisted of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder) and brushes it on the tofu before popping it in the oven.  We never bake the tofu in the marinade; doing so doesn't allow the tofu to firm up and it remains on the mushy side, which we don't care for.  

The sandwich was really good, and the pickled veggies offered a nice crunch to contrast the tofu.  We ate the banh mi with roasted brussel sprouts, tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper.