Rainbow Rice Paper Rolls with Teriyaki tofu, veggies, and fruits

The most colorful, appetizing, refreshing and delicious meal you can make with minimum amount of cooking and without breaking a sweat - summer rolls, or rice paper rolls! All ingredients can be prepared raw and you can go wild with colors.

Summer rolls, or Gỏi cuốn, is a Vietnamese dish traditionally consisting of pork, prawn, vegetables, and other ingredients wrapped in Vietnamese bánh tráng, aka rice paper wrappers. Unlike spring rolls, which are wrapped in flour wrappers and then fried, summer rolls are wrapped in a translucent rice-wrapper and served cold. So naturally they're much easier and quicker to make, as well as being lighter on the stomach.

I like to wrap a variety of fresh veggies, fruits, and crispy glazed tofu strips in my summer rolls. You could simply slice the tofu and wrap but glazing and pan-frying them gives the dish much more flavor and adds a nice crunch! And if you like them to be fruity, mango, figs, and even kiwi are all good options.

My latest discovery for another surprising ingredient that goes so well in summer rolls is - granny smith apple! I fist had them at a vegan restaurant in LA and that hint of tartness and freshness was like love at first taste!

INGREDIENTS:

6-7 rice paper

4 oz rice noodle

1 avocado, sliced
1 ripe mango, sliced
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced

1 granny smith apple, sliced

1 sweet red pepper

1 cup shredded purple cabbage

Lettuce leaves as needed

Optional coloring -

1 tsp blue spirulina powder

For the glazed tofu -

1 12 oz block extra firm tofu

1 tablespoon tamari/soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon coconut amino

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder

Oil for cooking

For the peanut butter sauce -

2 tablespoon peanut butter

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 teaspoon syrup

1 teaspoon sriracha

 

TO MAKE:

- Prepare the tofu sticks first. Drain and press the tofu, cut into 1/2 inch slices;
- In a non-stick pan, heat a drizzle of oil, pan fry the tofu slices over medium heat, 4-5 minutes for each side until both sides are golden crispy;

- Meanwhile, mix together the glaze ingredients, carefully pour the sauce mixture into the pan, stir and flip to coat all sides, turn the heat to low and let the sauce thicken, remove from heat when the tofu is evenly glazed on all sides;

- Cut into thin strips, set aside;

- Cook the rice noodles according to package instructions, then immediately rinse with cold water to stop the cooking and prevent sticking, drain and set aside;
- Color the rice noodles with the blue spirulina;

- Prepare all the veggies and fruit, try to cut them into similar length thin strips, set aside, save the avocado till the last, only slice it when everything else is ready to prevent oxidization;

- Dip a piece of rice paper in lukewarm water for about 2-3 seconds or run it under running water, shake off any excess water;

- Place the rice paper on a flat surface, lay down the lettuce, vegetables, rice noodles, mango, apple, and tofu sticks, in the bottom 1/3 section, lift up the bottom edge, fold forward to close then fold up the two sides, continue to roll up until you reach the other edge, repeat till all ingredients are used up;

- Make the dipping sauce by whisking everything together till very smooth, if it's too thick you can add a splash of water;

- Slice the summer rolls in halves, serve with the dipping sauce, enjoy!