Add to: Recipe Box | Grocery List | Meal PlannerRecipe submitted by
williams@lanl.gov (Louise Williams)
Spring RollsIngredients (use vegan versions): 12 spring roll wrappers (rice paper)
6 oz. firm tofu (not silken)
2 tablespoon or more soy sauce, tamari, or Braggs Liquid Aminos
6 oz. thin rice noodles (vermicelli)
48 fresh mint leaves
1/4 head leaf lettuce
3 shredded carrots (optional)
spring roll sauce (see below)
Directions:This recipe makes 12 rolls.
You can get the spring roll wrappers at an oriental grocery store, and they will keep on your shelf indefinitely. They are fragile; keep them flat and handle them gently. Be sure they are made of rice. You CANNOT substitute egg roll wrappers in this recipe. The round ones, about 8 1/2 inches in diameter, are the easiest to work with. I like the Flying Goose brand, although the brand with a rose on the front works well, too.
Slice the tofu into 1/2 inch slices. Pat dry with paper towels. Press it for an hour or so if you have time. Put the tofu slices on a nonstick cookie pan. Add the soy sauce, trying to keep it on the tofu as much as possible. Bake at 325 for about 45 minutes, turning occasionally and adding more soy sauce if they look like they can absorb more. When they are nice and brown and dry, cut them into strips, about the size of French fries. You will need one strip per spring roll. (If you don't have time to bake the tofu, cut it into strips and fry it with the soy sauce on a nonstick skillet for a few minutes, carefully turning each strip, trying to crisp it up a little on each side.) Set aside.
Wash and dry the lettuce. Tear it into 3 or 4 inch pieces, removing stems and crisp veins. Your lettuce needs to be on the limp side. Any crisp pieces will tear the spring roll wrappers when you try to roll them.
Wash and dry the mint. Remove all stems! Set aside. (If you can't get fresh mint, you can substitute fresh cilantro, but the spring rolls will taste completely different, and my family would rather I not make them if I don't have mint.)
Shred or grate the carrots. Again, they need to be small enough pieces that they are not crisp. You may prefer your spring rolls without the carrots.
Throw the rice vermicelli into boiling water and cook until just done, about 2 or 3 minutes. Pour into a colander, and rinse with cool water. The noodles need to be well drained and cool enough to handle. Set aside.
Put an inch or two of water in a pan that is big enough to hold the spring rolls. (Cool water works fine). Separate the wrappers, and stack them in the water, making sure each one is completely covered with water before putting in the next one. Leave the wrappers in the water until they are flexible (about 2 or 3 minutes). Remove the whole stack at once, and place them on a clean wet kitchen towel, covering them with another damp towel.
Now you are ready to assemble them. Carefully remove one wrapper and put it on another surface (I use a bamboo sushi mat, but you could easily use another damp towel. If you use a plate, dump off the excess water between each spring roll.) Working quickly, put onto the wrapper 3 or 4 small pieces of lettuce, 4 leaves of mint, a handful of rice noodles, one strip of tofu, and a few tablespoons of carrots if desired. Quickly fold the bottom of the wrapper over the pile, fold in the sides, and continue to roll up. After I've done four or five, I wrap each in plastic wrap to keep them from drying out too much. If one of them is falling apart, wrap it in plastic wrap immediately. Have a piece of plastic wrap cut and ready in case one is falling apart. (If you are serving them to company, start over with a new wrapper on the ones that are falling apart.) If a lot of them are falling apart, then something may not be drained well enough, or you may be trying to fill them too full, or some of your wrappers may be defective with too many tears and holes, or too thin.
Serve cold or room temperature with sauces of your choice. NOTE: you do not EVER cook these spring rolls. When you finish rolling them up, they are done! They will keep in the refrigerator for a day or two. They travel well for lunches and outings. For an appetizer, serve one or two per person. As a main course, count on at least three per person.
SAUCES: These are good with a peanut sauce, but that wouldn't be fatfree. They are also good with a plum sauce. If anyone has a good plum sauce recipe, please send it to me. I serve them with the sweet sauce below AND a bottled chili sauce (I like Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, made by Huy Fong Foods, Inc.)
Sweet Sauce For Spring Rolls
Makes enough for about 3 dozen spring rolls.
Ingredients (use vegan versions): 4 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup broth or water
2 tablespoon corn starch
1/4 cup cold water
1 clove garlic, crushed with 1/4 ts. salt
Directions:Combine vegan sugar, soy sauce, and broth. Bring to a boil. Add corn starch mixed smoothly with the cold water, and stir until the mixture thickens some. Simmer, stirring for 1 minute. Stir in garlic. Serve any temperature.
This is delicious!I put a small dish of hot water and shredded ingredients& chilli dip on the table and we make our own as we go.(I wouldn't recomend this if you have small children.)The hot water is for the uncooked rice paper.Just dip part of the rice paper in the water and gently rotate it as it cooks.Its a lot of fun. The rice paper I use has a rose on it and is called -Sunrise Elephant Brand- Vietnamese Rice Paper-Banh Trang.
Archived comment by: anna
i have wanting a spring roll recipe forever! they are so expensive to buy where i live. so i thank you a heap.
Archived comment by: shannon
I have seen rice paper in the Oriental Market that I shop at and did not know how to use it. Thanks, I'll give it a try
Archived comment by: there'sa
I've had great results using Thai basil (Fresh, at oriental markets) in place of the mint leaves. Great recipe, thanks!
Archived comment by: glenn
This is a great recipe! I really like the dipping sauce and I've used it over stir fries and the like. The sauce becomes a great peanut sauce if you mix in a couple tablespoons of peanut butter just before putting in the cornstarch.
Archived comment by: kathleen
I love spring rolls! I like to put both mint and cilantro together, even adding basil as well. The Vietnamese and Thai restaurants around here will serve them as is or fried. Has anyone tried frying these?
Archived comment by: jeanne
I tried this recipe myself, I took out out mint (I am not too wild about mint), and I used Thai rice soup noodles instead of vermicelli. I also added some dry spinache leaves (using less iceberg). For the sping rolls, I baked my Tofu, but I prefer my tofu fried. I like it cooked all the way through. But not everyone does. The recipe is great and easy to work with. The sauce is delicious!
Archived comment by: courtney
I actually created near to this exact recipe on my own, but fried the rolls in oil like they do at most restaurants. They tured out pretty well. I didn't know that the rolls would be fine unfried, which counds a lot better!
Archived comment by: elight23
great idea
)i made some of these using cooked cabbage instead, and then made more cooked ones from a different recipe. must say they were both delish!
Archived comment by: xxxsillyxbuttxxx
mine were bad
I used flour spring roll papers, and they didn't work like the rice ones would, I guess. I can't find a spring roll recipe for flour papers though. can anyone help? what will I do with the bunch of flour rolling papers?
Archived comment by: asamrb
this sweet sauce is delicious! and so quick and easy. Thanks!
Archived comment by: dryade
Yum! I made three varieties: basil-peanut-carrot, mint-carrot, and cilantro-carrot. All turned out perfect. For the sauce, I halved the sugar and added some peanut butter. Next time, I'll probably use even less sugar. Instead of wetting the rice paper discs all together, I did one at a time, and as I took one out to let it drain on the dish towel, I put another in the water. By the time I was done building one, the one in the water was ready to go. This might be the best recipe I've tried from VegWeb. :-)
Archived comment by: speltrong
i forgot to say that I didn't use tofu at all. Oh, and asamrb, I don't think this recipe will work with plain flour wrappers. They just don't have the same feel or consistency as rice paper wrappers. If you want to use flour wrappers, you'd be better off making something like a (vegan) egg roll that gets fried.
Archived comment by: speltrong
Hi everyone, I am new to forums but have been a vegan for quite a while now. I wanted to reply to asamrb who wanted to know how to use the flour spring roll wrappers. In Australia a spring roll is one of these flour wrappers, stuffed with veggies (usually grated carrot, shredded cabbage,whole mung bean sprouts,fine diced red pepper etc) with some sort of meat I use frozen tofu or fine diced firm tofu that has been marinating for a little while in soy,sweet chilli sauce,mock oyster sauce and a little dark sesame oil and then you roll the stuffing up in the flour wrapper (being careful to keep them covered up as they dry out pretty quickly if your not a fast roller and most chinese restaurants fry them over here but I like to brush them with a little canola oil and just bake them in the oven till they are golden brown and crispy. They taste really yummy and are one of my favourite foods of all time and are relatively low in fat especially if you go gently with the oil. You don't have to use oil in fact but if you bake them plain, they will be crisp at first but won't stay that way for long so you have to eat them straight away (not hard...they are so yummy!). Thankyou for this forum by the way, it is so good to see so many vegans in one place! I
sometimes feel like a bit of a freak in my home town over here and this keeps me in touch with the real world
).
Archived comment by: toefish
These were great and really fun to make. I read an alternative method for preparing the wrappers that also works. Put them in between wet paper towels for a minute or two just before wrapping.
Archived comment by: apricot
These were great and really fun to make. I read an alternative method for preparing the wrappers that also works. Put them in between wet paper towels for a minute or two just before wrapping.
Archived comment by: apricot
Just to clear up some confusion: This recipe is actually for SALAD ROLLS. There is an inherent difference between salad rolls and spring rolls. Salad rolls are not fried and are made with rice paper wraps. Spring rolls are fried and are made with flour wraps. Also, spring rolls often contain meat and do not contain rice vermicelli. An easy way to remember is just to think that salad is usually cold - as are salad rolls.
Archived comment by: huckleberry
