Asian Fusion Plus Runny Cupcakes

Last night we said goodbye to a good friend who is moving out to sunny California (lucky girl!). She has been contemplating veganism for awhile now, so a home-cooked goodbye dinner sounded perfect. I decided to go with an Asian Fusion theme, meaning anything with an Asian flair was game. That way I could try my hand at rolling sushi again! For munchies we had wasabi green peans and nori maki (rice crackers wrapped in nori, I thought they looked pretty fancy). Then we got to the good stuff..... here's a peak at our dinner spread. At the front left is a bowl of Thai Coconut soup, made courtesy of another veggie friend in attendance. It was chock full of red pepper, mushrooms, tofu, coconut milk, lime juice, lemongrass, and red curry paste. I will have to get the recipe from her, it was spicy and delicious, the perfect start to the meal. Fusion of Asian Cuisine ..... Thai, check.



Following the soup course, everyone dug into the vegan egg rolls served with an amazing (store -bought) pineapple-tomato sweet and sour sauce. Everyone raved about the sauce and the eggrolls, and I could see a wave of shock when I told them they were 1. vegan and 2. had tofu in them. I've blogged about these eggrolls before by Banyan. They have three flavors regular, curry, and chipotle, all excellent and they also made the sauce. Fusion of Asian Cuisine ..... Chinese, check.

Then came the sushi. The last time I made sushi it was quite successful and this time was no different. In addition to making the spicy tempeh rolls, I also tried the yamroom roll (subbed portabello for shitake due to an allergy in the group). I thought they were delicious, quite unique. Other fillings included the usual avocado, green onion, cucumber, and carrot. Fusion of Asian Cuisine ..... Japanese, check.

And finally, we filled our plates with glazed seitan stir fry aka my favorite seitan stir fry. Unfortunately I was short on edamame, but no one seemed to notice but me. I think it's safe to say that besides John and myself, this was everyone's (6 people) first time trying seitan!! I was a bit nervous, but knew that it would win them over. Many compliments were muttered in between bites. Fusion of Asian Cuisine .... Chinese again I guess?, check.

Here's a close-up of the spread....




And finally dessert. I had quite a time making these mint chocolate cupcakes from VCTOTW, but they were worth it. I decided to make the vegan fluffy butttercream frosting instead of the one the recipe suggested. Maybe that was a mistake. It has been soooooo hot here in Houston, the mint-green colored frosting was just runny and not setting up (but it tasted damn good!). I put it in the fridge and eventually the freezer, which helped, but then after icing the cupcakes I forgot to put them in the fridge, so the "icing runneth over" the cupcakes that is. No biggie, I served them with vanilla soy ice cream, perfect to balance out the minty flavor. These were amazing cupcakes, my favorite so far of the ones I've made. Everyone else agreed as well and the girl of honor just couldn't believe they were vegan and that good! Fusion of Asian Cuisine .... cupcakes? oh well, they were tasty even if they aren't really Asian-inspired. Here's a not so fabulous photo of my overflowing cupcakes, topped with chocolate ganache....

Overall a fun night filled with good friends and good food. We had a champagne toast with the cuppers to say goodbye, we will miss you E.M.!!