Sprouted tofu and kimchi spring rolls/dumplings

These spring roll dumpling things are AWESOME! I say "things" because some of them wound up being shaped like rolls and some wound up in more of a dumpling shape.. which made me realize that depending on your artistic form of spring "rolling" you can make them any shape you want.. but the beauty is they're pretty easy once you learn the art of working with rice paper and you can do whatever you'd like. These are not completely raw (I'm currently on a journey to becoming more "raw", but when I do use tofu in my meals (because... well I love tofu!) I always use organic and sprouted tofu which is healthier for you. I do soon plan on getting adventurous and experimenting with making my own raw, unprocessed tofu.. but for now, I still buy the sprouted stuff on occasion :). This was thrown together as a result of me trying to figure out what to do with all the homemade kimchi we have in our fridge! So many options, but I try to keep it as raw as I can to minimize the heat that may kill off some of the beneficial microbes in the delicious fermented kimchi. This one should be planned ahead of time if you need to make your own homemade kimchi first as it does need to ferment for multiple days. Enjoy!




Ingredients:

Rice paper wraps
warm water
store bought or homemade kimchi
package of organic sprouted tofu
sprouts (optional)

Optional dipping sauce such as liquid aminos or my favorite: Trader Joe's "Soyaki" sauce! The rolls are flavorful on their own and ingredients are far from dry so you don't actually need a sauce with it.

Directions:

Open your package of tofu and drain out water. Cut tofu into rectangular "blocks" about ½ inch thick.

The art of rice paper wrapping can be hard at first but you'll get the hang of us. Dip each piece of rice paper into a bowl of warm water and sully saturate/cover with water for 10-30 second. Remove as soon as it starts to get soft and pliable.

Place wet rice paper sheet flat out onto a plate. Put a tofu block in the center. Cover with a big spoonful of kimchi, and top with sprouts if using. Take one edge of the rice paper and fold over your "mound" of filling, and take opposite end back over towards the side you first folded. Roll in the ends like a burrito. Rice paper should stick to itself. If your filling makes a big round mound, the shape of your "roll" make turn into a round dumpling shape and this is okay! Just think of it like wrapping a present... wrap so that every bit is covered and all edges are sealed so you don't loose any ingredients!

Repeat again and again until you have desired number of wraps and/or you use up all your tofu. Pair with dipping sauce if you choose and enjoy!

*Rolls are eaten raw as the rice paper tends to be too sticky and not a good consistency for frying or cooking. If you prefer "fried" tofu in your rolls, you can first pan fry each tofu rectangle in a frying pan of sesame or coconut oil until golden on each side before adding into your rolls :) You can also get creative and add other veggies of your choosing into these rolls to modify the flavors!