Fresh Spring Rolls/Summer Rolls
Fresh Spring rolls also known as “Gỏi Cuốn” in Vietnamese, are rice paper rolls filled with rice vermicelli, colorful vegetables, leafy greens, fresh herbs and protein. The best part of these rolls is that they leaves you full without filling heavy.
- 1/4 cup Unsalted peanut butter
- 2 Tbsp. Sesame oil
- 2 Tbsp. Soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp. Rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. Maple syrup/sugar/honey
- 1 Tbsp. Chili garlic sauce/Sriracha
- 1-2 Tbsp. Lime juice
- Salt to taste
- Crushed peanuts
- Red chili flakes
- 2-4 Tbsp. Warm water
- 2 Tbsp. Sugar
- 1/4 cup Hot water
- 4 Tbsp Soy sauce
- 1 Tsp. Garlic cloves (finely chopped)
- 1 Tsp Red Thai chili pepper
- 2 Tbsp Lemon juice
- 8 ounces Extra-firm tofu (drained, pressed)
- 2 Tbsp. Sesame oil (divided)
- 2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp Reduced sodium soy sauce (use tamari to make gluten-free)
- 1 Tsp brown sugar or agave nectar
- ⅛ Tsp Black pepper or red pepper flakes
- Pinch of salt
- 4 ounces Rice vermicelli or rice noodles
- 1 Tsp. Sesame oil
- Pinch of salt
- 10-12 pc Rice paper sheets
- Luke warm water (to soak rice paper sheet)
- 1 cup Lettuce (butter lettuce, ribs removed) or mix green
- 1 Medium Carrot (julienned)
- ½ pc Yellow bell pepper (julienned)
- 1 cup Mini cucumber, (julienned)
- 1 cup Red cabbage (shredded)
- 1 pc Avocado (cut int ½ inch stripes)
- ½ cup Fresh herb - coriander/basil/mint or combination
In a deep bowl or food processor add peanut butter, sesame oil, soy sauce/tamari, rice vinegar, maple syrup, sriracha/chili garlic sauce, and whisk well to combine.
Add warm water as required, add 1 Tbsp at a time and blend until smooth and creamy. Add lime juice and season with salt, as per your taste. Add more water if required until pouring consistency.
Adjust the seasoning and transfer to serving bowl. Keep aside and let it sit until we prepare rolls. You can make this dipping sauce in advance and keep refrigerated until further use.
Garnish with crushed peanut and red chili flakes before serving.
In a mixing bowl add sugar and hot water, stir until sugar dissolves.
Add the soy sauce, chopped garlic and Thai chili, and lemon juice and mix well. Add chilies as per your taste as Thai red chili are spicy.
Taste and adjust the sauce as per your liking.
First, drain the tofu from the package, wrap the tofu in cheese cloth or kitchen town and place on a plate. Press with heavy plate and let sit for 15-20 minutes to remove excess water. You can also use tofu press.
While tofu is being pressed, lets cook rice noodles. Prepare the noodles as per the package instructions or bring a pot of water to a boil and add in rice noodles. Cook for 3-5 minutes until al dente.
Strain, rinse under cold water and transfer noodles back to pot. Toss the noodles with oil and season with salt. Keep aside.
Coming back to tofu, remove the pressed tofu and slit into half and then cut again into halves. You will have 4 slices of tofu now.
Next in a bowl add corn starch, black pepper, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, brown sugar, and 1 Tbsp sesame oil. Mix everything well, adjust the seasoning and add salt if required.
Lay the tofu slices in wide tray and coat with marinate mix. Gently flip to coat from all sides. Keep aside for 5-10 minutes to marinate well.
Heat remaining 2 Tbsp. sesame oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add marinade tofu slices. Fry on each side for 4-5 minutes on medium flame till golden brown. Don’t flip or toss too much, tofu might break.
For oil free, you can bake tofu in single layer for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F (180C).
Once tofu is cooked, let it cool down. Once Cool cut it into 1 cm strips and set aside until further use.
Tear the lettuce into half. Chop carrots, red cabbage, cucumbers, pepper lengthwise, shred or make juliennes.
Prep the herbs and slice avocado into ½ inch strips.
Before you start rolling the spring roll make sure to have your working space organized. Get a damp lint free towel/kitchen towel or wooden board, ingredients for filling, seasoning and peanut sauce next to your working station or within reach.
Soften the rice sheets
- To soften rice sheets use package instructions or fill a deep plate with luke warm/room temperature water up to 1” height. (Water dish should be bigger than rice sheets size, cake pan/pie pan works great).
- Dip 1 rice sheet at a time in the water about 5-8 seconds, it should not be too soft at this point.The sheet continue to get softens while working with it.
- Now carefully, using your both hands pull the sheet out of the water and place flat on clean damp surface. Dry surface will makes sheets to stick and rip while rolling.
- Let the sheet rest on damp working surface for 10-20 seconds or until pliable. Keeping the work surface wet while rolling will also prevent sheet from sticking and ripping while rolling. Brush the wood board with water every 2-3 rolls or as required to keep it moist.
Fill the rolls
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- Starting with side closest to you, place lettuce in center leaving 1 inch from bottom.
- Then add cooked noodles, top with crisp tofu, carrots, cucumber, purple cabbage avocado and fresh herbs. Try to have everything in equal amount.
- You should have a nice stack of filling, beautifully layered.
Remember whatever you place first/at the bottom will be visible most once the summer rolls are rolled up. So customize as per your liking. Placing lettuce first, helps to hold the ingredients nicely and gives perfect shape. Do not overfill the rolls as they can rip easily. If the sheet tear, use a second rice paper to wrap the broken roll.)-
- Starting from the bottom, start rolling over filling towards the top, roll nice and tight using your fingers until everything is tucked in.
- Then tuck in both the sides overlapping over filling to close the side ends and continue rolling upwards until it’s fully sealed.
- Place the roll seam side down on a serving plate lined with parchment paper and cover with damp towel until ready to serve.
- Repeat the process for rest, keeping the work surface wet.
If you feel your rice sheets are stiff, let it sit on your damp cutting board for an extra 10 to 15 seconds to soften. Then, start rolling.- Once you are done rolling all the rolls, let the roll sit for 1-2 minutes so they are pliable but not sticky.
- Cut the roll into half straight or diagonally and serve them fresh with peanut dipping sauce.
- For leftover do not cut the rolls but wrap each individual roll in plastic wrap and keep refrigerated them in air tight container for 1-2 days. Wrapping rolls individually helps them from drying out and sticking together.
- Pre-Planning: These rolls come really handy with some pre-planning and making dipping sauces, crisp tofu and veggies ahead of time. Sauces can be store refrigerated in air tight container for 4-5 days. Likewise, veggies and tofu can be prepped in advance too.
- Cutting vegetable: Try to chop your veggies in almost same shape and size. For these rolls juliennes or match stick styles work best. Try and use a variety of veggies with different colors. This makes the rolls look beautiful and colorful.
- Cook your protein: Tofu can be prepped ahead of time and will store in a closed container in the fridge for 3-4 days. However, it will lose some of the crispy texture when stored in the fridge.
- Rice Vermicelli noodles: Rice vermicelli noodles give a great base to filling and makes them easy to roll. Rinse the cooked noodles with cold water. This will prevent them from sticking together. Drain well so you will not have soggy spring rolls. Skip rice vermicelli if you are looking for just veggies and spring rolls.
- Soaking rice paper: Always use Luke warm water to soak rice paper as this helps to soften the rice paper just the right. If the water is too hot, the rice paper will turn sticky and if water is too cold, the rice paper won’t get soft enough to make rolls.
- Damp working station: Ensure to roll the summer rolls on a damp kitchen towel or wet chopping board as they will stick to a plate making them harder to roll, and they can also rip this way.
- Filling: You can be creative with filling, just try not to add too much otherwise rolls will not come easy while wrapping.
- Rolling and Over filling: Try to keep filling compressed as you roll, this will give you nicely shaped roll and won’t crumble while eating. Try to not over-fill rice paper rolls. Additional filling makes it harder to roll. Don’t over stuff the rolls or they can break.
- Use dry hands: Dry your hand before grabbing another wrapper for the package. If you reach inside with wet hands, they will soften and be hard to separate.
- Serve: Do not serve these on paper plates: I made the mistake of serving the spring rolls on disposable paper plates. When I took a spring roll off the plate, a chunk of the paper came along with it. Sadly, I had to redo all the rolls. Line your plates with parchment or wax paper so that the spring rolls can be lifted easily. Arrange the spring rolls on a plate, but make sure they don't touch, otherwise they will stick to each other.
- Storage: These spring rolls remain fresh for 2-3 hours at room temperature. Place the roll seam-side down on a serving platter between two damp paper towels to keep them fresh and helps them from drying out. They do not store well fridge as the rice paper will harden, if you do store in fridge then store them in air tight container between damp towels.
- Rice paper easily sticks to itself: keep multiple rolls apart from each other. Rice paper also sticks to wooden cutting boards so don’t leave your rolls sitting on one for too long. Ceramic plates and plastic cutting boards seem to prevent most sticking, and glass would also likely be okay.
- Using the sauce: You have the option of drizzling some sauce over the filling before rolling up the vegetable spring rolls, or you can use the sauce as a dip alone. Some people prefer having sauce inside the spring rolls to give them more flavor. If you’ll eat the roll right away, add peanut sauce directly into the roll. Dipping the rolls into sauce can be tricky, so save yourself the effort!
- Make it Gluten Free: Be sure to use certified gluten free noodles and tamari sauce instead of soy sauce which typically contains gluten.
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