Dinner with friends

Over the weekend I had a few people around for dinner--a friend from uni is thinking about going vegan, and it had been a while since I had caught up with the other Townsville vegans, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity for food. Of course, I forgot to take photos on the night but luckily there were leftovers.

I decided to try some new recipes, which is always a risky venture when you're cooking for other people but luckily it worked out (for the most part).

For starters, I made a batch of broad bean hummus (aka fava bean hummus), which is really just a pack of frozen broad beans, shelled and blended with some tahini, rice vinegar and oil. I've actually made this once before, so it wasn't new, and it wasn't based on a recipe. But this one is the anomaly.

One of the dishes that was a new recipe was Jamaican Cook-up Rice from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen cookbook, which I got a few months ago. Instead of beans, I used some rehydrated tvp, and I replaced the kale with silverbeet (chard). This was very yummy.

The side dish was another grainy one, Barley and Corn Salad based on a recipe from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen. I left the beans out of this one, to make it more side dishy, and opted not to serve it in cabbage cups. I left the corn raw, which gave this salad a lovely sweetness that complemented the mustardy dressing quite well, I thought.

Dessert was a veritable smorgusboard-orgusboard. I made Hawaiian Coconut Pudding from The Tropical Vegan Kitchen, only instead of pouring it into a square dish and then cutting pieces, I poured it into muffin cups. Well, this was a good idea in theory, but when I tried to serve the puddings they hadn't gelled up like they were meant to, so they were more like blobs of coconutty goo. They were tasty, and the three extras in the fridge somehow managed to set up the next day. I guess I need to practice this recipe again.

Matt brought a delicious chocolate cake with chocolate icing, very moist and fantastic.

Mel brought along some vanilla soy ice cream, as well as some fresh strawberries and some soyatoo topping cream. All delicious!

Sure, I was left with a sugar hangover the next day from all of that dessert, but it was well worth it. Food and friends--what else is there?