Rice Paper Rolls and Play School

Play School is Sylvia's favourite TV show. I have to say that I love it too. The hosts are so energetic and enthusiastic, it's kind of contagious. They do lots of great cooking on there such as fruit salad, sandwiches, salads, wraps, muffins, jam and ... rice paper rolls!

We haven't made rice paper rolls for a while and I was only reminded of their existence when they made them on an episode of Play School - sad but true!

Anyway, I forgot how simple, fresh and delicious they are. I've made them a few times recently when we've had someone over for lunch and they've been a great success. Mine don't look too pretty, but I'm pleased enough when they hold together and it's the taste that counts!

Having seen them on Play School, Sylvia is always excited to make them. She enjoys the process of putting all the different ingredients in the roll, sampling along the way, and most importantly dipping them into the soy dipping sauce (she is an absolute salt fiend). 

a bit of a dark photo, but you get the idea!

 Rice Paper Rolls

1 packet of Vietnamese rice paper rolls

2 carrots, grated

1 cucumber, peeled and cut into sticks

1 red capsicum, cut into strips

1 avocado, cup into strips

bunch of coriander, chopped 

block of tofu, prepared as detailed below

half a packet of rice vermicelli noodles, cooked as per instructions

Dipping sauce

A mix of tamari/soy sauce and maple syrup is a lovely and simple dipping sauce - Sylvia's favourite one. You can also add ginger, garlic, peanut, chilli, vinegar, whatever you like. I also really like just plain old sweet chilli sauce from the bottle as a dipping sauce.

Cook your noodles and cut tofu into strips. Fry tofu in a bit of vegetable oil for a few minutes until they are turning golden brown, then add a few dashes of tamari/soy sauce and cook for another minute. Take off heat and line up with the rest of your filling ingredients.

Soak rice paper rolls in hot/warm water as per packet instructions until a bit soft (but not too soft or they will rip), fill them and roll! You get into some sort of rhythm as you go.