Vegan Summer Rolls with Tofu and Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
Fresh, light and fun to make, try these Vietnamese-inspired vegan spring rolls with cucumber, lettuce, mint, cilantro and tofu with spicy peanut dipping sauce. Such a refreshing summer meal, you'll find you keep coming back for more.
Prepare the extra firm tofu by pressing it gently in a clean dish cloth or paper towels. Cut the tofu into 16 long fingers, so they fit the shape and size of the spring rolls. You'll have 2 pieces per roll. Or, you can cut it into 8 larger rectangles, for one piece per roll.
16 ounces extra firm tofu
Mix soy sauce and sweet chili sauce in bowl.
¼ cup soy sauce, ½ cup sweet chili sauce
Spread a thin layer of sweet chili marinade on the bottom of a baking dish, then place your tofu pieces on top. Then, brush the rest of marinade on top. Marinate for at least 10 minutes, up to overnight.
Line air fryer with parchment paper (if your air fryer basket is not non-stick and for easier cleanup) or spray with baking spray. Place tofu pieces in a single layer, not touching each other, in the air fryer basket or tray.
Air fry at 400°F for 12 minutes, or until browned on the edges. Alternatively, you can bake these in the oven at 400 for 25-30 minutes, turning halfway through.
Make dipping sauce
Prepare the spicy peanut dipping sauce by whisking ingredients together and adding a tablespoon of water at a time until you get the consistency you want. Reduce or increase sriracha, according to your tolerance to spice. Sprinkle top with minced peanuts.
Cook rice noodles according to package instructions, then rinse well in cold water, drain and set aside in a bowl.
4 ounces rice vermicelli noodles
Assemble summer rolls
Spread out all of your prepped vegetables, herbs, noodles and other ingredients in front of you, within arms reach.
8 leaves green leaf lettuce, 4 Persian or baby cucumbers, 2 carrots, 1 avocado, 1 red bell pepper, 1 cup fresh cilantro, ½ cup fresh mint leaves, ½ cup Thai basil leaves
Add an inch of warm water to a wide pan or bowl. Submerse rice paper in bowl for 10-20 seconds, twirling it to make sure the all areas of the rice paper get soaked with water.
8 rice papers
Then, transfer rice paper to flat working space (like a dinner plate) and layer ingredients in the center of the paper. Be careful to not overfill them! Then, gently pull up the bottom edge and place it over the filling. Then, fold in each side toward the center, so it touches the wrapper and sticks to it. Then, roll it away from you, tucking the filling in as you go, to seal it into a summer roll.
Eat the spring roll whole or cut at a diagonal with a sharp knife for a pretty presentation. Serve with spicy peanut dipping sauce.
Notes
Leftovers keep for up to 2 days in the refrigerator. Peanut dipping sauce could also be made with an alternative nut butter, although I haven't tried using something different.For a low fat peanut sauce, substitute the peanut butter for PB2 peanut powder and add additional water to reconstitute.Instead of rice vermicelli, you could use mung bean vermicelli. It is very thin and only requires soaking in water for 3 minutes to be ready to eat.See my tips for rolling spring rolls and how to store them, as well as how long they last in my blog post above.