Fresh Spring Rolls

This is a vegetarian version of Curtis's recipe from the Take-Home Chef show. I am posting his recipe here with a few changes. First off, I replaced the crab meat with raw julienned tofu. I didn't have basil, mint or bean sprouts on hand tonight when I made them so I skipped that part and it turned out OK, but I would still recommend using the basil and bean sprouts. I didn't have a jalapeno either but just used one small ordinary chili pepper. I did use the fish sauce because I'm not that strict of a vegetarian sometimes and I liked the flavor, but I used 1/8 cup fish sauce and 1/8 of soy sauce and you can just use soy sauce instead if you want it fully vegetarian. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredient list
For the Dipping Sauce:
2/3 cup/155 ml plus 1/4 cup/60 ml water
1/4 cup/60 ml fish sauce (nam pla)
3 tablespoons/60 g seedless tamarind paste
1/2 to 1 red jalapeno chile (depending on the amount of heat desired), minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons/5 g cornstarch
1/4 cup/60 g cane sugar

For the Spring Rolls:
4 cups/1 liter hot water
Eight 8-inch/21-cm-diameter Vietnamese spring roll sheets
8 ounces/230 g tofu, medium firm to firm
2 cups/160 ounces bean sprouts
4 green onions, cut into thin strips
2 carrots, peeled, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup (lightly packed)/15 g fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 cup/70 g coarsely chopped roasted unsalted peanuts
Fresh cilantro sprigs, for garnish

To prepare the Dipping Sauce:
Stir 2/3 cup/155 ml of the water with the fish sauce, tamarind paste, chile and garlic in a heavy small saucepan over medium heat until the paste dissolves.

Stir the cornstarch into the remaining 1/4 cup/50 ml of water in a small bowl until it dissolves. Gradually add the cornstarch mixture to the sauce, stirring constantly. Simmer gently for 1 minute or until the sauce thickens slightly. Stir in the cane sugar. Pour the dipping sauce into serving bowls and set aside.

To prepare the Spring Rolls:
Pour the hot water into a large bowl. Dip 1 spring roll sheet in the water for about 30 seconds or until it is pliable. Remove the spring roll sheet from the water and place it on a wet towel. Let stand for 30 seconds (if the spring roll sheet is still stiff, sprinkle it with more water).

Place an eighth of the tofu across the bottom third of the spring roll sheet. Top with an eighth of each of the green onions, carrots, bean sprouts and cilantro leaves. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon/10 g of the peanuts over the filling.

Fold the bottom edge of the spring roll sheet over the filling, then fold in the ends of the sheet. Continue rolling the sheet around the filling and into a cylinder. Repeat with remaining spring roll sheets, tofu, green onions, carrots, bean sprouts, cilantro leaves and peanuts.

Using a very sharp large knife, cut the spring rolls crosswise on the diagonal in half. Arrange the spring rolls on a plate. Garnish with the cilantro sprigs and serve with the dipping sauce.

Hiyashi Chuka (Japanese Cold Noodles)

You'll need:
Soba noodles (1-2 rolls for 2 servings)
3 plum/roma tomatoes
2 eggs (or fry tofu strips for the vegan version)
1/2 English cucumber

Our Japanese friend, Aiko, introduced us to this dish. We got the package from an Oriental store, but it's a little tricky to find one that comes with a vegetarian sauce. So it was with great joy that we found the Hiyashi Chuka dressing recipe online.

There are two kinds. The soy sauce flavor or the sesame flavor. We usually use the soy sauce flavor. I usually go ahead and make 2 recipes in case we use more and just store the leftovers in a glass jar.

HIYASHI CHUKA DRESSING RECIPE

SOY SAUCE FLAVOR
1/3 cup water
3 T rice wine vinegar (or rice vinegar)
2 T soy sauce
3 T sugar
1 tsp sesame oil

SESAME FLAVOR
3/4 cup water
4 T sugar
8 T soysauce
4 T rice wine vinegar (or rice vinegar)
2 T grated sesame seeds
1 tsp sesame oil

We use the packaged buckwheat soba noodles. They're usually wrapped in rolls with a ribbon. Each roll is roughly 2 servings. Usually Jeremy and I use 1 to 1 and a half of the noodle rolls. I'm told you are to bring the water to a rolling boil before adding the noodles. Cook until al dente, don't overcook, especially with the cheap brands because they tend to get soggy and break apart. Follow the package instructions, I guess...I don't really know how to describe the state of cook-ness :D Drain noodles, and throw in ice cubes with noodles to cool.

Break 2 eggs in a bowl, add a dash of salt, beat with fork and fry in large frying pan. Transfer to chopping board and roll up to make cutting into strips easier. Slice "roll" into thin strips. Transfer on plate and put in fridge or freezer for quick cooling. Slice cucumber and tomatoes into thin strips as well.

Drain noodles and remove ice cubes. Divide noodles in two bowls. Arrange tomato, cucumber, and egg slices on top of noodles and pour dressing over whole thing. And there you go...eat with fork or chopsticks. Yum!