Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

12 Spring roll wrappers (rice
Paper)
6 oz Firm tofu (not silken)
2 tb Or more soy sauce, tamari,
Or Bragg's liquid aminos
6 oz Thin rice noodles
(vermicelli)
48 Fresh mint leaves
1/4 Head leaf lettuce
3 Shredded carrots (optional)
x Spring roll sauce (see
Below)

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.)

From: williams#lanl.gov (Louise Williams). Fatfree Digest [Volume 10
Issue 5] Aug. 15, 1994. Formatted by Sue Smith, S.Smith34,
TXFT40A#Prodigy.com using MMCONV

Browse by categories