Recipe: Jerry Mai’s Vietnamese-Style Steak and Egg English Muffin Sandwich

With two young kids and a stacked schedule as chef-owner of Pho Nom and executive chef of Roll’d, Jerry Mai rarely has time for anything elaborate in the morning. “During the week, I’m just smashing back coffees and running around getting stuff done,” she says.

But on weekends, she slows things down, relishing the luxury of late nights and slow mornings spent cooking dishes she doesn’t have time for during the week. “I get to treat myself. Wake up slowly, make myself a coffee, and then make myself something really nice to eat.”

In this case, it’s an indulgent egg sandwich, swapping your usual breakfast meats like bacon or sausage for steak.

“I love a good steak for breakfast,” Mai says. “I know it’s controversial for a lot of people, but I grew up in Vietnam where we have Saigon breakfast.”

In Mai’s eyes, the recipe is a kind of mash-up between the breakfasts she grew up with, particularly bò né – sizzling steak and eggs served on a hot plate with a baguette on the side – and a classic Aussie breakfast roll.

It’s also a practical way to use up leftovers from the night before. “Sometimes I get excited and buy a kilo of steak for two people,” Mai admits. “[The sandwich] is really good with leftover roast as well.”

As for the base, Mai uses Abbott’s Bakery sourdough English muffins, which come pre-sliced and have the same contrast of flaky exterior and soft interior that you get with Vietnamese baguettes. She says they’re also ideal for her kids: “It’s easy for them to wrap their hands around.”

Vietnamese-style sizzling steak and egg English muffin

Serves 2

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 6 minutes

Ingredients

200g piece of minute steak

Pepper, to taste

1 tbsp chilli oil, divided

1 small onion, peeled and sliced

2 large eggs

2 Abbott’s Bakery Sourdough English Muffins (White)

2 portions of creamy spreadable cheese

¼ cup coriander, washed and chopped 

Method

Place frying pan over high heat. Season steak with pepper. Once pan is hot, add half of the chilli oil and cook the steak, searing on both sides. Remove steak from frypan.

In the same pan, cook the onion on medium heat until soft, then remove from frypan. Add the rest of the chilli oil to the pan and fry eggs sunny side up, making sure yolks are runny.

Toast the Abbott’s Bakery Sourdough English Muffins. Once toasted, spread with cheese.

Roughly slice the steak, place on bottom halves of the muffins, then add onion, egg, coriander, and cover with top halves of the muffins.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Abbott’s Bakery.