I hate chopping vegetables. I love to eat vegetables, just hate prepping them–washing, peeling, slicing, seeding, dicing–all of it. I hate it. Always have, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because I worked in the cafeteria at my small Christian boarding academy during high school. One year, we had to sort, wash, and de-worm loads of organic broccoli. The broccoli itself looked amazing, but it was covered in worms and their stringy, sticky, gooey webs. I cringe even now just thinking about it. There was no way to get all of those worms out of the tiny florets. One day a friend of mine was eating a serving of cooked broccoli in the cafeteria. Bleh. I don’t want to think about it, so I’ll let your imagination finish the story.
The point of that whole paragraph is that I have to be pretty excited about a recipe if I am willing to prep lots of vegetables for it. This recipe is super easy, and it involves lots of veggies. But I’ll just tell you right now that all that veggie prep is well worth the delicious results.
Since this Asian-inspired stuff is not something I do everyday, I thought I would refer you to a fabulous blog post (HungryHuy) that helped me get the hang of folding/rolling these fresh spring rolls.
Enjoy!
Vegan Fresh Spring Rolls with Tofu
Ingredients
For the Baked Tofu:
- 14 oz extra firm tofu (or 1 block) (cut into 1/2 inch thick strips)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
For the Spring Rolls:
- 1 large carrot cut or peeled into thin strips
- 1/2 avocado cut into thin strips
- 1/2 English cucumber cut into thin strips
- 8 Romaine lettuce leaves
- 1 small bunch Saifun bean threads boiled/soaked in hot water according to package directions.
- 8-10 Banh Trang spring rolls skins soaked in warm water, approximately 6 seconds on each side.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cut tofu into strips.
- Mix soy sauce, sugar, lemon juice, garlic, and onion powder together, and pour over tofu. Allow tofu to soak up the soy sauce mixture for a few minutes.
- Place tofu on non-stick lined baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes, or until tofu is beginning to get crispy on the edges.
- Cook Saifun noodles according to package directions. What I usually do is bring a small pot of water to boil, then add the Saifun noodles and immediately remove the pot from heat. I allow the noodles to soak in the hot water for about 10 minutes. Then, drain.
- Prepare a plate of warm water. Soak each spring roll skin separately in warm water for about 4-5 seconds on each side. Remove skin before it has completely lost its crunchiness, and place skin in the center of a dry plate.
- Place a Romaine lettuce leaf, saifun noodles, baked tofu strips, avocado slices, carrot strips, and cucumber strips into the center of your spring roll skin.
- Carefully fold the sides of the skin in, over the veggies, then roll up.
- Enjoy! I love to dip mine in some Bangkok Padang Peanut Sauce.
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