Summertime Spring Rolls

This is hands down my favorite quick summer meal. Crunchy, light and satisfying with a flavorful dipping sauce, yum! I’ve included the recipes for two dipping sauces (both adapted from Eat, Taste, Heal) -your pick or try both! …the Almond Dipping Sauce never lasts long so make extra!

I chose to go with traditional spring roll ingredients using: avocado, vermicelli noodles, basil, fresh mint, tofu, cucumber, and purple carrot. The purple carrot is not so much traditional as it is fun.

You can add your own variations perhaps subbing in some jalepeno for the carrot if you are a kapha type and you want to give your spring roll a little extra kick. Or, you could also add an extra step and grill or marinade your tofu. The beauty of spring rolls is that you can reinvent them every time, change it up, keep them guessing…

The Almond Dipping sauce is everything above (almonds, raw almond butter, maple syrup, Bragg’s Amino Acids, and lemon) + water. Chop up the nuts, stir it all well, and voilà, yummy creamy dipping sauce created! And, if you are making these in the Winter as I am Down Under you can add a little heat by stirring in some chili garlic paste.

For the Mint Sauce you’ll need a blender, a healthy bunch of fresh mint leaves, lemon, maple syrup, and water. I love it for its eye-popping green color and refreshing taste.

So, my friends, it’s time to get rolling…

Summertime Spring Rolls:
3/4 cup vermicelli noodles, cooked
8 round rice paper sheets
1/2 package of extra firm tofu, drained, and sliced into thin strips
1 carrot, julienned
1 cucumber, julienned
1 avocado, thinly sliced
1 handful fresh mint, destemmed
1 handful fresh basil, destemmed

1. Prepare the vermicelli noodles by placing them in a bowl of hot water. After 5 minutes, drain the water and set the noodles aside to cool.
2. Fill a large, shallow dish with hot water. One at a time, soften a rice paper sheet by submerging it in the water for a couple of minutes. Remove the sheet and lay it on a plate. Dab off excess water with paper towel.
3. Layer the fillings on the lower third of the wrapper. Roll up and fold in sides mid wrap.

Almond Dipping Sauce:
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoon Bragg’s Amino Acids (or soy sauce)
2 teaspoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon raw almond butter
1 tablespoon filtered water
6-8 blanched almonds, chopped

Mix together all of the ingredients except for the chopped almonds. Once well blended, sprinkle chopped almonds on top.

Mint Sauce:
maple syrup
lemon juice
1 cup fresh mint leaves, packed
filtered water

Blend all of the ingredients together. Serve with spring rolls

Note –
Best for Pitta. Vata can enjoy in moderation and Kapha prefer mint sauce over almond dipping sauce.

Happy Dipping!

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