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Single-serve tofu, cabbage and date rice paper rolls with a red Thai chili, apple cider peanut sauce

Sauteed in tamari and lime and served with a simple peanut sauce accented by tamari, apple cider vinegar and red Thai chili, the rolls make for a light and easy snack or lunch for one that can easily double. The dates give this dish a lovely sweetness. Add extra thinly sliced vegetables, basil, cilantro or mint to taste, and serve with either the simple sauce below or the sauce of your choice.

Ingredients

For the rolls
1T cooking oil
1/4t coarse sea salt
1t fresh garlic, minced
1 scallion, minced
125g tofu, shredded (about a quarter pound)
1 cup cabbage, shredded (I use coleslaw mix)
1T tamari
2t lime juice
3 dates, thinly sliced length-wise
2T nutritional yeast
1/4t red Thai chili paste (or to taste)
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
1 liter water
3 sheets rice paper

For the sauce
2T crunchy unsweetened unsalted peanut butter
1T tamari (or to taste — replace any tamari you subtract with a little water).
1T apple cider vinegar
1/2t red Thai chili paste (or to taste)
A pinch sea salt (or to taste)

Directions

In a frying pan, bring the cooking oil and sea salt to heat on high.
Add the scallion and garlic and stir fry for about 30 seconds.
Add the cabbage and tofu and stir fry for 3-5 minutes until the pan starts to brown.
Add the lime and tamari and continue to stir fry for another 3 minutes.
Remove from heat and toss with the dates and nutritional yeast.
Season to taste.
Whisk the sauce ingredents until homogeneous and set aside.
In a frying pan, bring the water warm temperature, but not to a boil. Aim for just hotter than is comfortable to the touch.
Add a sheet of rice paper and nudge it down into the water (to help it soften evenly).
Wait until the rice paper is soft and complete transparent.
Remove from the water carefully with a slotted spoon.
Spread evenly on a clean surface, add 1/3 of the filling and roll like you would a burrito.
Add the roll to a separate, clean and dry surface.
Repeat with the two remaining rolls.
Plate and serve with the sauce of your choice.

It’s important to tuck and squeeze the filling a little as you roll to make for a well formed roll. If you have difficulty spreading the rice paper, put it back in the water for a few seconds so that it will relax. The rice paper dries quickly and will stick — so, wrap carefully and separately in plastic wrap to store.