Maddie Hannes writesCelebrate CHIRP’s Whole Foods 5% Day with Lots of Delicious Food

All of us at CHIRP feel honored and thrilled to have been selected as the recipient of Whole Foods 5% Day this Wednesday, June 26. All five Chicago Whole Foods stores are donating 5% of the day's profits to CHIRP, and I couldn't be happier — or hungrier. To prepare for the intense level of grocery shopping I'm going to do, I've neatly arranged all my reusable tote bags by the door, and I've planned out all the meals I'm going to make with my spoils. There's one dish I'm particularly excited to eat—it's a proven seasonal crowd-pleaser and stupid-easy to prepare, and most importantly: DELICIOUS AS ALL HECK.

Grab your tote bags, get out your shopping list and add to it the ingredients for Banh Mi Pork Burgers.

Banh Mi Pork Burgers

Banh Mi, as every hungry Chicagoan should know, are Vietnamese sandwiches served on French rolls and stuffed with any manner of tasty fillings: usually some sort of protein (I prefer marinated tofu), plus cilantro, jalapeño and some carrots and radish for extra crunch. The French roll is a vestige of French colonialism, the fillings are traditional Vietnamese fare. A few weeks ago my boyfriend decided to unite the bright flavors of banh mi with that favorite American summertime sandwich The Burger, and thus the Banh Mi Burger was born. We've served them twice in the past month—they're that good.

Here's your list:

PRODUCE
1 bunch scallions
1 bulb garlic
1 lb carrots
1 cucumber
1-2 jalapeños
1 large bunch cilantro

DELI
1 lb ground pork

BAKERY
4 Kaiser rolls

PANTRY
mayonnaise
fish sauce
hot chili sauce (such as sriracha)
sugar
cornstarch
rice vinegar
sesame oil

1. MAKE THE 'SLAW
Use a box grater or food processor to shred 2 carrots. Slice rounds from the cucumber as thin as you can make them without losing your fingers. (You'll want roughly equal parts carrot and cucumber.) Mix the cucumber and carrot together in a bowl and add 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 Tablespoon sesame oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Adjust to your preference if need be—want more vinegar? Add it. Love sesame oil? Do it up. It should taste sweet and tart and sesame-y all at once. Set it aside when you're happy with it.

2. MAKE THE MAYO
Finely chop 2 scallions. Mix it into 2/3 cup mayo and add as much chili sauce as you like. If you're like me and plan on eating most of the chili mayo straight out of the bowl with a spoon because you're gross and regretting nothing, make lots of chili mayo!

3. MAKE THEM PATTIES
Mince 4 cloves of garlic and finely chop the rest of your scallions. Put them in a big bowl and add the pork, 1 Tablespoon fish sauce, 1 Tablespoon sugar, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper, and a few squirts of hot chili sauce. Mix it all together then make your patties. I leave it to you to determine the shape of your patties, but we found they cook up nicely if you can shape them to be less than one inch thick. Your patties will be roughly 1/3-lb each.

Heat a skillet over medium heat until hot and add the patties. You may need to add a neutral oil (think sunflower or canola) if the pork is especially lean to keep them from sticking—pork is funny like that. Give 'em about 5 minutes on each side; i.e., until they're no longer pink on the inside. Transfer to a plate and…

4. ASSEMBLE YOUR BANH MI BURGER
Wash and prep your cilantro and chop the jalapeño into coins. Arrange the pork patty on the bun and top with carrot-cucumber slaw, cilantro, jalapeño and chili mayo to your preference. Eat that sucker and make a mental note to thank me.

Got any favorite summer recipes of your own? Share them in the comments!