after making tofu skewers a couple of weeks ago, i found myself staring at a little mason jar full of peanut sauce, unsure of how i wanted to use it. i strongly dislike throwing things away – it feels so wasteful to throw out perfectly good food – so i knew i had to come up with something to use up the last of the sauce.
i have been reading animal, vegetable, miracle by barbara kingsolver, which is a non-fiction account of her family’s decision to move to a farm in the appalachians and become locavores (ie to only consume food grown on their farm or grown/made within a 100 or so mile radius of their home). the book was a marvelous account of their year, beginning when the first asparagus was ready to eat in april, through the next march when they were eating solely canned and frozen goods leftover from their fall harvest. i highly recommend this book to all gardeners and foodies alike – it reacquaints you with (or teaches you for the first time about) plants and seasons. in the month of july, barbara shares a meal they made for her birthday party, with various amazing foods including fresh spring rolls. ah-ha, i thought! fresh spring rolls – those are absolutely perfect to dunk into leftover peanut sauce.
so we bought some rice wrappers, chopped up some cucumber and tofu, shredded carrots, and pulled all sorts of leftover tidbits out of the cupboard, including peanuts, dried coconut, and part of an heirloom tomato. next, we boiled some rice noodles, and then one by one placed the rice wrappers into warm water to let them soften (it takes less than a minute per wrapper).
we then proceeded to fill the spring rolls with abandon – all of them turned out different – and rolled them like you would sushi, except no mat is needed because they roll so easily. in just a few minutes, we had pulled together a fabulous summer dinner, leaving me with tons of extra time to finish reading barbara kingsolver’s book.
fresh spring rolls
yields 2 servings
- 4 rice wrappers (they’re sold in a much larger package)
- 1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/2 cumber, sliced in long thin strips
- 8oz marinated tofu, sliced in long thin strips (we love wildwood)
- 1 avocado, peeled and thinly sliced
- rice vermicelli noodles, prepared according to directions on package
- lettuce, washed and broken into pieces
- thai basil, washed and chopped
- cilantro, washed and chopped
- mint, washed and chopped
- peanut sauce (store bought peanut sauce is ok, too)
_________________________________
- prep veggies and noodles as per above
- fill a pie dish with water and nuke until warm (not hot)
- place one rice wrapper in the water until completely see-through and pliable, then pull out of water and place onto a plate or cutting board
- line veggies and tofu along closest edge of wrapper (we found that less is more, much like sushi)
- grab the edge of the wrapper and the veggies in your hands and roll over itself until the whole wrapper is around the veggies
- fold the open ends onto the seam side of the roll, and place them seam side down on a serving plate
- once all 4 rolls are made, enjoy with copious quantities of peanut sauce!