Prodigious Vegan Sushi-palooza Madness Extravaganza

Yep, that's what we named the sushi party at my house on Friday night. A few of my vegan friends and I got together to roll veggie-filled sushi and, um, deep fry everything in sight (more on that in a second).

For starters, Stephanie of Poopie Bitch made some bad ass Red Thai Coconut Bubble Tea:

She cooked the tapioca herself and served it with red Thai tea and cream of coconut. Then we munched on Steph's Inari while we worked on rolling. I love sushi and all, but inari (tofu skin stuffed with sushi rice) is my very favorite thing:

Here I am workin' on my sushi master skills. I'm not the world's best roller, but I try:

We made Spicy Tempeh Rolls from the PPK and some super-delicious Baked Tofu Rolls. I think we also made a few plain ole' veggie rolls, but honestly, we made a crap ton so who knows what all went in. Here's one finished plate (we filled lots of plates!):

Nic threw together a veggie-loaded salad with romaine, avocado, hicama, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, cucumber, and walnuts:

However, our greatest discovery of the night was my deep fryer. Stephanie got the bright idea that we should try our hand at deep-frying. First, we battered some tofu in panko and lowered it into the hot oil. Deeelicious:

Then Stephanie tried coating some veggies in tempura batter. I don't have pictures, but the battered cauliflower and zucchini were amazing. Of we HAD to try deep-frying some sushi! A few of the sushi joints in Memphis serve deep-fried rolls, but they always contain meat. So Steph battered a few rolls in tempura and here's the result:

Wow! This was so tasty. It's definitely true that everything tastes better fried. After this success, Stephanie said, "Hey guys, I wonder what deep-fried avocado tastes like?" Um, despite our reservations, she battered a few small chunks in tempura and did it anyway. And though I don't have pictures, I have to admit it was pretty tasty. Almost like a fried egg, but not.

After all our experimenting in the kitchen, everyone was ready to dig in. But they took some time out to throw a few gang signs before making their plates:

Left to right: Nic, Weezy, Stephanie, and Greg (my friend Hart and Steph's husband Richard were also there, but somehow didn't make it into the picture).