Zuzu came home from school dejected the other day because she had not gotten her first or even second choice for her class project on French-speaking countries. Instead of Canada or Belgium, Vietmam was the country Zuzu had been assigned. My first thought was: you dodged a bullet there, kid! I would absolutely love to do a school project on Vietnam, especially if food were involved. (I think Zuzu had been thinking about Belgian chocolates and maple sugar candy.)

I have loved Vietnamese cuisine since I was growing up in Washington DC. There is a large Vietnamese population in northern Virginia and, as a result, the DC area has top-notch Vietnamese markets and restaurants. Fortunately, Chicago too has memorable Vietnamese cuisine, ranging from high-end, fine dining establishments to storefront pho houses. As an unrepentant Francophile, I love the French influence that one instantly detects in Vietnamese food. But I also appreciate the freshness of the cuisine, with its emphasis on herbs and other bold flavors, and the wonderful mix of textures.

There is a small, casual Vietnamese joint near my house and when the mood strikes, I stop in there for lunch and pick up one of their delicious banh mi, which is a meat and vegetable sandwich on a light, crispy baguette. My favorite banh mi has liver pâté and ham, but because we don’t have pork in our house, I have to eat that one onsite.

The other day, my husband and I stopped into the casual pho restaurant near our house for a quick bite to eat before going on to a drinks-and-dessert party. Even though it was dinner, I couldn’t resist ordering my favorite banh mi, the Saigon sandwich. It hit the spot. The next day, I was still thinking about how much I love that sandwich and I wondered if I could create my own pork-free version to eat at home. My idea was to use smoked turkey, which has that nice smoky flavor, to replace the ham and pâté.

As it turns out, the smoked turkey was a great match with the other elements of a banh mi: the crunchy pickles, the spicy jalapeño, and the hoisin mayonnaise. Now, smoked turkey may be an unusual choice, and it is certainly not traditional, but it is a perfect solution for anyone who wants a slightly lighter or a pork-free option for his or her banh mi. Roast chicken is not an uncommon ingredient in traditional banh mi, so turkey has got to be at least a plausible substitute, right?

With one exception, the do chua or Vietnamese carrot and daikon radish pickle, the ingredients for a banh mi are all easy to find at any supermarket and you might even have some of them in your kitchen on a regular basis.  (I don’t know if you consider cilantro and jalapeño to be refrigerator staples. I quite often have both hanging around.)

As for the do chua, a few thoughts: one, you could probably find some sold in bulk at an Asian market near you. Second, you could just make some – it’s a refrigerator pickle so it’s not even that hard. Lastly, if you really can’t find it or have no desire to make it, go ahead and use plain carrots instead. Will you lose something without the briny tang a pickle provides? No doubt. But if you get color and crunch from the raw carrots, you are probably getting at least half what the do chua provides.

What if you do want to try your hand at making do chua? Then I applaud you. There are plenty of good recipes around. My friend Marisa McClellan of the blog Food in Jars has a recipe for pickled carrot and daikon coins in her first cookbook that you can adapt. I used Marisa’s brine recipe to make my own do chua, but cut my vegetables into matchsticks instead, as is more traditional for banh mi. You could also try this family recipe for do chua from White on Rice Couple.

One last note about the bread. Vietnamese baguettes are light and crispy, in part because they are commonly made with rice and wheat flour. You can find them in Asian markets or Vietnamese delis. Regular French baguettes work as well if they are the light and airy kind, not the dense and rustic kind and certainly not sourdough. Vietnamese cooking expert Andrea Nguyen also suggests using a Mexican bolillo roll. That’s fusion cuisine for you!  (Andrea Nguyen has a whole banh mi cookbook coming out in July, which I might just have to get!)

So spice up your lunch routine with a homemade banh mi, made with smoked turkey, or even ham if you are so inclined.