I took pictures of the spring rolls for this recipe, but I just opened them on my computer and 🤣 um, they look horrible and that middle one kind of looks like a penis. So, I made the photo super tiny.
And here we are. Before I try to convince you that these spring rolls are super delicious and easy to make, let’s look at puppies.
Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce
This recipe is really straightforward. You’ll make the tempeh bacon, which, I should warn you, will not taste like bacon to you if you eat animal bacon. If you eat animal bacon, just think of this as yummy tempeh. While the tempeh is cooking, chop your vegetables, make your peanut sauce and play with your dogs.
Oh, and about that peanut sauce: Don’t follow the recipe. I will give you ballpark amounts, but this sauce is amazing when we do it by feel and pretty good when we try to measure it. Make it your own.
Ingredients
For the Tempeh Bacon:
1 package Tempeh
1 Tbsp tamari
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
For the rest of the spring rolls:
cucumbers, julienned (aka sliced the long way like fat matchsticks)
carrots, julienned
purple cabbage, cut into strips
brown rice spring roll wrappers
warm water
For the peanut sauce:
4 heaping Tbsp peanut butter
3 Tbsp coconut aminos
1 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 dollop of maple syrup
juice from 1 lime
water as needed
Preheat oven to 400° and slice the tempeh into the shapes you see in the photo above. Let’s call them thin slabs. Oh, and FYI, the easiest way I’ve found to get into a package of tempeh is using a knife to cut right through the middle of both the package and the tempeh, then squeezing out the two halves.
Put the tempeh in a medium mixing bowl. Add tamari and stir until all of the tempeh is coated and all of the tamari is absorbed. Add nutritional yeast and stir until all of the tempeh is coated.
Spread the tempeh on a silicon mat (or parchment paper)-lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
Prep your veggies and make your peanut sauce.
To make the peanut sauce, combine all of the ingredients (except the water) in a bowl and stir vigorously until combined. Taste as you go and add a little more of any particular ingredient depending on your taste (peanut butter for more peanut butter taste and body, more vinegar for sharpness, more coconut aminos for salt, more maple syrup for sweet or to balance out the salt, etc). Once you’ve nailed the flavor you want, add water a little at a time to create a dippable consistency.
Once the tempeh is ready, assemble your spring rolls. Pour warm water on a plate with slanted sides. Dip the spring roll wrapper into the water until it is submerged and leave it there for a few seconds. Remove the wrapper from the water and place it on a second plate. Add portions of the tempeh, cucumbers, carrots and cabbage, placing the ingredients in a line close to the bottom of the wrapper, leaving room on either side. Fold by first rolling the wrap from the bottom, then folding it in on either side, and finishing up by continuing to roll it through the top. (To be honest, this part of the process is Pete’s job. Anything that’s supposed to be done precisely is Pete’s job. And if you want specific spring roll rolling tips, I suggest you head to YouTube.)
Make as many rolls as you want. It will depend on how many ingredients you prepare and how big your wraps are.
To eat, dip the rolls in the peanut sauce and enjoy!
Leftover tempeh and veggies are great with leftover peanut sauce.
View draft history
You had me LOLing with that picture. Of course I had to enlarge it to see for myself! 😂
I feel like there needs to be a rolling video to accompany this. Your instructions are fine on their own but I need vindication for the penis roll!
This recipe sounds lovely. Coincidentally, I just made a stir fry with peanut sauce so I was curious to see how our peanut sauce recipes compare.