Make-Your-Own Spring Rolls with a Secret Peanut Sauce

"What's for dinner?" — the terrible question that lands in our kitchen at 5pm most days. One answer we come back to again and again is spring rolls, done make-your-own style: everything chopped into little bowls, set out on the table, and everyone rolls their own. It's genuinely one of the easiest ways I've found to feed the whole family, and the kids love being in charge of their own plate.

The secret is the sauce. And my one hard-won tip after doing this with three little ones: put the sauce inside the roll rather than serving it as a dip. Used as a dipping sauce it's a gigantic mess — tucked inside, it's far tidier and every bite still tastes of it.

This is a "make-your-own", so treat the amounts as a flexible starting point — use whatever veg you have, and adjust the sauce to your taste.

The secret sauce

For the rolls

• 1 packet rice paper wrappers
• Half a pack of rice vermicelli noodles
• 300g firm tofu (or chicken, if you're not vegetarian)
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil + 1 tbsp soy sauce, to marinate the tofu
• ¼ cabbage, finely shredded
• 2 carrots, julienned
• A handful of mushrooms, sliced
• 1 avocado, sliced
• … or honestly, whatever veg is in the fridge.

Method

1. Make the sauce first. Stir the peanut butter, soy sauce, grated ginger and chilli flakes together, loosening with a little warm water until it's smooth and spoonable. Remember: this goes inside the rolls, not in a dipping bowl.
2. Soak the noodles. Cover the vermicelli with boiling water and leave for a couple of minutes until soft, then drain.
3. Cook the tofu. Cut into strips and toss in the sesame oil and soy sauce. Fry in a pan (or air-fry), until golden and a little crisp. Chicken works exactly the same way.
4. Prep the fillings. Shred the cabbage, julienne the carrots, slice the mushrooms and avocado. Put everything in its own bowl.
5. Set the table. Lay out the bowls of filling, the noodles, the tofu, the sauce, a stack of rice paper, and a shallow dish of warm water for softening the wrappers.
6. Everyone rolls their own. Dip a wrapper in the warm water for a few seconds until pliable, lay a little of each filling in the middle — a little, this is the bit I always overdo — add a spoonful of sauce, fold in the sides and roll up snugly.
7. Eat straight away. They don't do well made in advance (sticky or dry)

A few tips

• Don't overfill — smaller rolls are far easier to close and won't split.
• Sauce inside, not as a dip — the single best trick for eating these with kids.
• Swap the veg freely, and add cooked chicken or prawns for the meat-eaters.
• Make it a ritual: everyone building their own turns dinner into the fun part of the day.

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