Fresh Mango, Avocado & Tofu Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

A fact of life: you’re going to cook what you have around the house. Or at least that’s a fact of my life. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel every time dinner rolls around. The way I’ve been able to branch out – slowly, but surely – is to start accumulating interesting or exotic ingredients. Rome wasn’t built in a day (I became the proud owner of a bottle of soy sauce only earlier this week) but having things like fish sauce and rice noodles around the house encourages stepping-out-of-the-box.

Rice paper sheets are the best because you can stuff them with essentially anything you want. I haven’t yet attempted a dessert version but it is absolutely doable (I’m thinking pan fried banana and peanut butter spring rolls??) This time I had stocked up on vegetables from my neighborhood cheap Asian grocery store – avocados, mangoes, green onions, tofu, etc. Hence: avocado mango spring rolls.

Fresh Mango, Avocado & Tofu Spring Rolls

4 rice paper sheets
4 leaves Romaine lettuce
1/2 block firm tofu, pressed dry and cubed
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red Thai chili, chopped
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 green onion, sliced
1 avocado, sliced
1 small mango, sliced
bean sprouts/carrots/cucumber

Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sriracha
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon/lime juice
1 teaspoon rice vinegar

Heat peanut oil in a pan and add garlic and ginger. After about a minute, stir in tofu and sauté until tofu has lightly browned sides – set aside. Dip rice paper sheets into 1 inch of water and soak for 10 seconds.  Remove, lay on plate or flat surface and blot dry with paper towel. Lay leaf of romaine lettuce on top of rice paper and layer tofu and remaining desired ingredients. Scoot lettuce leaf to edge of rice paper and pick up edge of paper to wrap ingredients with rice paper and lettuce together. At the half way point, fold in sides of paper and continue wrapping until a tight spring roll. Set aside, and repeat.

In a small bowl, whisk together dipping sauce ingredients and serve with spring rolls.