Summer Rolls / Summer Salad

Summer Rolls are easy to make; you can add anything you want; fresh, cooked or grilled veg, any sorta protein, fresh herbs and of course rice noodles. I also like to add buckwheat instead of rice noodles; they are slightly more nutritious and bring in a lovely nutty flavour. These also make the perfect leftover meal - you can either get rolling again (or pre-roll if you feel like being organised), or just chuck everything together and have it as a salad. Use fresh and seasonal produce; I love incorporating rhubarb, asparagus and strawberries. You can even get fancy and incorporate some summer fruits into your dressings; details below.

What you need

Quantities are hard to provide for this; I say just eyeball it depending how many people you are. As I said - these make great leftovers so make sure chop/cook enough.

Rice paper

Rice or Buckwheat noodles

Veg of choice - the classics are carrots, cucumber, red cabbage all thinly sliced

More veg of choice - go with whatever you fancy; I love adding spring onion, some lettuce, asparagus, grilled zuchini or aubergine, celery - again all thinly sliced

Herbs of choice - mint, coriander, parsley, thai basil - all of these go well. Totally optional but they add an additional layer of flavour

Fruit of choice - something sweet goes really well to balance these off; especially if you go for the spicy soy dressing. Of course tropical fruit like mango and papaya are great, but also seasonal fruit like strawberries or peaches can be included

Protein of choice - I love adding a bit of tempeh or tofu to these

Spicy Soy Ginger Dressing

1 cup of soy sauce

1 garlic clove minced

1/2 a fresh chili

Small knob of ginger

1 spring onion

Peanut Butter (or Almond) Dressing

1/2 cup peanut butter (or sub for almond)

4 tbsp soy sauce

2-4 tbsp maple syrup of honey (start slow and work yourself up if you like it sweeter)

3 tbsp sesame oil

2 garlic cloves minced

2-4 tbsp acid - I like to use a mix of vinegar and lime

A bit of water to reach the consistency you like

Tahini - Miso Dressing

1/2 cup Tahini

4 tbsp miso paste

That's your base - now go ahead and add whatever you fancy; you can play around here. My recommendations:

2-4 tbsp soy sauce

Lime/lemon

Dash of rice vinegar

Siracha or spice paste/sauce/oil

A bit of maple if you want to balance out the saltyness from the miso

Method

  1. Cook the noodles per instruction; be careful not too overcook and keep them in cold water for long time after cooked; that will prevent them from sticking together. You can also add a dash of sesame oil to help with the process
  2. Chop all your veg very thinly; just make sure they are roughly the same length so that you can roll these up easily. For the carrots for example I like to just use a peeler to get thin enough cuts
  3. Cook your tofu however you like it; since these rolls are served with lots of stuff I recommend just frying or baking it in a bit of oil and salt
  4. When you've chopped all your veg, go make the sauce(s). Here I am giving you 3 to choose from; simply mix together all ingredients, I use a fork to incorporate them and adjust to taste; you may need more maple, soy, PB, etc.
  5. Add all your ingredients to a table; add a few plates with water to soak in your rice paper for making the rolls and enjoy.
  6. ROLL AND DIP

Also good this season

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