Monbento Original #7 (Double Tier)

Veggie and tofu summer rolls, strawberries, mango chunks, and a spicy peanut dipping sauce (for the spring rolls).

Posting my round up of YouTube lunch packing inspiration finally got me to try summer rolls. They had many things going for them, but the way Mailin made them on Good Eatings really appealed to me. I don't care much for potato noodles, which usually turn up in recipes I've seen for summer rolls, and I am generally not a fan of plain, raw cabbage. But here! Some new ideas! I salted the purple cabbage and set it aside to let it drain a bit, and that made me love raw purple cabbage in these rolls. I decided to give my tofu a quick and very simple marinade of soy sauce and seasonings in before I cooked it. I did also substitute spinach for the lettuce and I didn't add onion but this is essentially the same rolls as hers.

There was a slight learning curve for me in rolling them but I got the hang of it and I will definitely be making more rolls from rice paper. I mean, really:

This is the sort of lunch people exclaim over when you open your lunch box. It is the kind of lunch that makes you wonder how anyone looks down on vegan food, that makes me grateful that I am vegan because otherwise I doubt I'd be having such a beautiful meal.

I guess my point is, I enjoy my food, at least as much as, if not more than, people around me enjoy their food. This isn't earth shattering but based on comments people have made to me, out in the world, it is apparently a concept that can be difficult to grasp.