Vegan Rice Paper Spring Rolls

Crispy and spicy with crunchy filling - these spring rolls are a real taste explosion!

Spring rolls with sweet chili sauce are one of my absolute favorite finger foods! And the best were definitely in Thailand. However, the store-bought are often too sticky for me and have too little filling in proportion. And of course, the deep-fried dough rolls are not exactly low in fat either.Since in recent years the summer rolls were quite hyped, but cold, tough rice paper doesn't taste to me so at all, I thought that you could just fry the whole thing. That's how my rice paper spring rolls came to be. Fried instead of deep-fried and with a delicious feeling of crunchy vegetables and spicy smoked tofu, they are the perfect party food or a tasty snack for in between.

For 12-15 rolls you need:

For the Spring Rolls:

• 15g shiitake mushrooms, dried or 100g fresh ones

• 200g smoked tofu

• 175g mung bean sprouts, fresh

• 1 large carrot or 2 small ones (approx. 200g)

• 100g sugar snap peas

• 50g rice noodles

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 shallot

• 1 piece of ginger, the size of a thumb

• 3 tbsp. soy sauce

• 1 tsp. sambal olek

• 18 - 20 pieces of rice paper

For frying:

• Sesame oil or coconut oil

For dipping:

• Sweet Chili Sauce

Preparation:

1. Pour boiling water over the shiitake (15g) and let them soak for 15 minutes (this step is not necessary for fresh mushrooms).

2. Pour boiling water over the rice noodles (50g) and let them soak for 5-10 minutes. Then drain them and cut them into small pieces with scissors.

3. Wash the sugar snap peas (100g) thoroughly and cut them into small pieces.

4. Peel the carrot(s) (1 - 2) and cut them into fine strips about 5cm long and 5mm thick.

5. Drain the mushrooms and chop them finely.

6. Peel the ginger, garlic and shallot and chop them finely as well.

7. Mix the smoked tofu (200g) in a blender until crumbly or chop it very finely with a knife.

8. Heat 1 tablespoon of sesame or coconut oil in a pan and sweat the ginger, garlic and shallot until translucent.

9. Add the crumbled tofu and shiitake and sauté on high for 5 minutes.

10. Lastly, add the vegetables and glass noodles and sauté for another 5 minutes on medium heat.

11. Add the soy sauce (3 tbsp) and the sambal olek (1 tsp), mix everything well and take the pan off the heat.

12. Fill a deep plate with water and set it aside.

13. Filling:

14. Dip a sheet of rice paper into the water for a few seconds until it softens a bit.

15. Place it on a clean work surface and put about a teaspoon of the filling in the center, spreading it out lengthwise.

16. Now fold the top and bottom ends over the filling and then roll up the spring roll from the open side (see pictures).

17. Proceed in this manner with the rest of the rice paper until the filling is used up.

18. Frying:

19. Cover the bottom of a pan with seasame or coconut oil and heat it.

20. Now fry the spring rolls for about 5 minutes on each side. They should be nice and crispy!

21. Serve the finished rolls with sweet chili sauce.

Enjoy!