Tofu Spring Rolls with Miso Peanut Sauce
These Tofu Spring Rolls are a vegan/plant-based friendly side dish featuring crisp, crunchy, and fresh veggies and herbs, like butter lettuce, cucumber, carrot, and basil, pan-crisped tofu, and tender brown rice noodles wrapped in thin rice paper. Plus the lightly spicy and salty-sweet miso peanut sauce is perfect for dipping.
Servings: 8 rolls
Ingredients
Tofu Spring Rolls
- 16 oz firm tofu, cut into 8 rectangles
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot powder
- 6 oz brown rice noodles
- 1 Tbsp avocado oil
- 1 head butter lettuce (about 20 leaves)
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1½ c shredded carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
- 20 Thai basil or Genovese basil leaves
- 8 round rice paper wrappers
Miso Peanut Dipping Sauce
- ½ c hoisin sauce (vegan)
- ¼ c peanut butter
- ¼ c water (more if desired)
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp peanuts, chopped
- 1 tsp white miso paste
- 1 tsp sambal oelek chili paste
Instructions
Spring Rolls
- Press tofu by placing tofu between 2 kitchen towels and placing a heavy object, like a heavy pot lid or a few plates, on top of the tofu and press for 20 to 30 minutes. Once the tofu is pressed, slice into 8 rectangles. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and toss to coat.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of avocado oil in a large frying pan. Place tofu in the pan once the oil is hot. Cook on one side for 4 to 5 minutes, until tofu begins to crisp and brown. Flip the tofu and cook another 4 to 5 minutes until crispy and brown on the other side. Remove the tofu from the pan and set aside.
- Place brown rice noodles in a medium bowl and pour hot water over the noodles until they are submerged. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, until soft. Drain and set aside.
- Grate carrots, peel and wash butter lettuce leaves and de-seed and slice cucumber.
- Fill a large bowl with warm water. Soak one rice paper wrapper in the water until it softens (about 15 seconds). Remove carefully and place on a plate. In the center of the wrapper, stack 2-3 butter lettuce leaves, 1 tofu rectangle, a little less than 1 oz of rice noodles, 3 tablespoons of carrot, 2-3 slices of cucumber and 2-3 basil leaves.
- Roll the spring rolls according to package directions. I generally pull up one of the long lengths of the wrapper, then fold in each short end (like an envelope) and roll the remainder of the wrapper tightlyaround the filling. Repeat until all the filling and/or wrappers are used up. This recipe makes roughly 8 spring rolls.
Miso Peanut Dipping Sauce
- Whisk together hoisin sauce, peanut butter, water, rice vinegar, chili paste, and miso paste. Top with additional chili paste and chopped peanuts before serving.
Notes
- I love using Thai Kitchen brown rice noodles for this recipe because it comes in individual 2 oz packages, so you can use 3 packages for this recipe.
- You can add more water to the dipping sauce if you want a thinner sauce.
- Check the hoisin sauce ingredients - some contain fish products. There are vegan hoison sauce brands available.