Veggie Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce

Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful dads out there. Special shout out to my amazing dad! He has never failed to be there for me all my life, is one of the toughest and most loving men in the whole entire world, and I definitely wouldn’t be who I am if not for him. This morning I woke up early and made some Spicy Baked Eggs for my dad. Since he is diabetic, pancakes are generally out of the question. Later on in the day my mom made him some chicken rice, so he definitely had his fill of ‘sugar’.

My dad, like his dad and the rest of the Dieps, has a major passion for food. He’s diabetic, but that doesn’t necessarily stop him from eating white rice or rice noodles. He loves, absolutely loves, loves, loves Vietnamese food. Hence why this post is going to be focused on the spring rolls that my family had a few days ago (super authentic Vietnamese spring rolls).

My family treats spring rolls like burritos, and we generally have a whole table set out with possible fillings. Everyone fills their rice paper with whatever they prefer, roll them up, and then eats them with the my mom’s special peanut sauce. (We consider it our meal, but others consider it a snack.) For these spring rolls, the filling options are a variety of different vegetables.

Check out the layout!

Ingredients:

• Rice paper

Spring Roll Filling:

• sliced cucumbers
• 6 cups shredded cabbage
• 2 cups beansprouts
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1 bundle rice Vermicelli noodles (very thin and clear)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced mushrooms or black fungus
• 1 Tbsp chopped leeks
• Optional: 1 cup sliced firm tofu

Peanut Sauce:

• 3 Tbsp peanut butter
• 8 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp ketchup
• 2 tsp Sriracha
• 4 Tbsp vegetarian Hoisin Sauce

Instructions:

1. Soak the vermicelli noodles in cold water so that they come apart from the bundle.
2. Make the peanut sauce by mixing all ingredients together and making sure that there are no lumps.
3. In a large wok or pan, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Stir in the tofu and cook for about 5 minutes (until they’re golden), add the fungus or mushrooms, leeks, and season with salt and pepper. Sautee for about 2 minutes, then add the cabbage. Cook the cabbage down for about 2-3 minutes, drain the water from the vermicelli noodles and then add them into the wok, stir for about 2 minutes, then add the bean sprouts. Cook and toss the mixture until all ingredients are cooked and evenly mixed.

To make a spring roll, you take a sheet of rice paper, dip it in a bowl of water to evenly wet both surfaces, and place it on a small plate. The rice paper will immediately get ‘soft’ and more flexible. Fill the rice paper with your preferred fillings, roll it up, and chow down!

See, Dad? I can totally cook Vietnamese food…with Mom’s help. Hope everyone had a fantastic Father’s Day and that you’re all ready for Monday. Sorry for the late night post. I was busy hanging with my old man and watching the Warriors game. They lost, oh well.