friday night dinner.

I cooked way too many rice noodles last night for the Thai chicken dinner so I needed to use them up tonight. I hadn't made salad rolls in years but had them over the summer at Matt's aunt and uncles and his aunt had dressed the noodles before rolling them in rice paper and it made a huge difference, they were delicious that way. Here's my version.

Salad Rolls with Grilled Peanut Tofu

I pkg firm tofu, sliced in half centimetre thick (you could use chicken)

store bought satay sauce or this recipe is good 

a package of 8 inch rice paper rounds (you'll have heaps left over)

1/2 package of thin rice (cellophane) noodles

2 finely chopped green onions
1/4 cup finely shredded carrot
1/3 cup thinly julienned daikon (I use a mandolin)
1/3 cup julienned cucumber (again, on the mandolin makes it so easy)
1/4 cup finely chopped basil

1/4 cup finely chopped mint

1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro 

a few big leaves of red leaf lettuce

Dressing

juice and zest of a lime

3 tbsp soy sauce or tamari

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp brown sugar

pinch of sea salt

Marinate tofu in enough satay sauce to coat both sides, let sit for at least half an hour and up to an hour. Pan fry in a nonstick pan until golden. Set aside.

Cook the rice noodles according to package, rinse in cold water, drain well and set aside.

In a large bowl mix green onions, carrots, daikon, cucumber, basil, mint and cilantro with the rice noodles. Whisk the dressing and add to the noodles. 

In a pie plate, soak a rice paper round in hot water until pliable (about 45 seconds). Put the soaked paper on a cutting board and place one and a half pieces of tofu 1/3 of the way on the paper. Top with a generous handful of the noodle salad and put a bit of lettuce on top of the noodles. Roll up filling tightly in rice paper, folding insides after first roll to completely enclose filling, and continue rolling (burrito style!).

Repeat rolling more rolls until you're out of tofu! Any leftover noodles are good as a salad on their own.

Serve with satay sauce or sweet chili sauce for dipping. 

You can make these a day ahead, wrap them either individually in plastic wrap, or wrap them in a wrung out damp paper towel and then put in a ziplock bag.

Weekend to do:

• Vincent Park Stock Room Sale
• laundry
• play at the park
• scrub balcony and organize plant pots and plan flower and herb planting for the deck
• hang new ikea herb pots on the wall on the balcony
• turn soil, weed and help plan the shared community garden plot that I was amazingly offered to join - this is by far my most exciting plans this weekend and I can't wait!
• gym
• Chinatown shopping trip