- Hi, my name is Misha and today I'm gonna be showing you
a vegan day in Thailand.
- Hi, my name is Adrean and I'm going to show you
how to veganize a Mexican breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- Hey, folks, my name is Eden.
And today, I'm gonna show you how to make a veganized
Ethiopian breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- [Misha] For breakfast, I made patongo,
which is crispy fried donut and fresh soy milk.
I start by adding soy beans to a bowl with some water
and soak them overnight.
After they're done soaking, the beans will look plump
and hydrated like this.
What I'm doing here is removing the skin off the beans.
You don't have to do this,
but I noticed it gives the milk a much smoother texture.
I like to do this a few times
in order to remove the skin off as much as possible.
On my left are unsoaked beans
and on my right are the plump soaked beans.
What a huge difference.
Then I pour the beans into a blender
with two cups of water and blend it
until it's nice and smooth.
Soy milk is easy to find at a store, but for me,
nothing beats a batch of fresh homemade soy milk.
After it's blended, I put a cheesecloth
right over a pot and strain the milk.
Now this is the fun part.
Gather all the edges and squeeze out as much as you can.
And then you'll be left with something called okara,
which is soy pulp.
Don't discard that.
They're actually very good for composting.
For some added aroma, pandan leaves are tied together
in a knot and boiled together with the milk.
It adds a nice floral and coconut-y aroma to the milk.
Don't walk away from the stove though,
because the milk boils over quickly, so stay with it.
I add some sugar to my milk and let it dissolve.
I then strain it into my glass and my soy milk is ready.
For the crispy fried donut, in a little bowl,
I start with some active dry yeast, sugar,
and a little warm water.
Mix it and combine it well,
and set it aside for 10 minutes
to allow it to get bubbly and foamy.
For the dough, I use a heaping cup of bread flour,
tablespoon of sugar, half a teaspoon of salt,
half a teaspoon of baking powder, water,
and the foamy yeast we set aside earlier.
Then I start kneading and fuse the dough with love
and knead away.
You can add a splash of water if it's too dry.
I recommend using your hands instead of a machine,
because you have more control over the texture.
I remove the dough from the bowl,
and lightly oil the bowl and the dough,
and place the dough back into the bowl.
Then I cover it and set it aside
to rest for three to four hours.
Now that the dough is risen and ready,
I punch it down a few times, then divide the dough.
I spread a little flour onto my work surface
and start rolling out the dough.
Then I trim off the sides, so I can form a rectangle.
I split them into two smaller rectangles
and divide equal parts into even smaller rectangles.
Then I dab a little water on half of them,
so they can stick together.
In a pot, I add some neutral oil.
I let the oil heat up, then stretch my dough slightly
and drop them carefully into pot of hot oil.
Don't crowd the pot, so the oil can remain hot
and the temperature doesn't drop.
Also they do become fluffy, so you'll need enough room
for them to expand.
The conjoined donuts have a cute representation in Thailand,
often referred to couples who are always stuck together,
or best friends who are inseparable.
It's best enjoyed warm and crispy
with the side of fresh soy milk
just like how I remember them from the streets of Thailand.
- [Adrean] For breakfast, I'm making
a Mexican-style tofu scramble.
To an oil pan, I added crushed tofu, stirring occasionally
to allow some of the moisture to cook out.
I season the tofu with salt, pepper, onion powder,
garlic powder, turmeric, and nutritional yeast.
Then I added plain almond milk to allow the dry seasonings
to mix into the tofu.
I cook the tofu for about three minutes,
and then it took on this golden color,
and I took it out of the pot and set it aside.
To the same pot, I added onion, jalapeno, tomato,
cilantro, and seasoned it with salt.
I allow that to cook for about four minutes
stirring occasionally until the veggies became soft.
And then I added my tofu scramble and mixed thoroughly.
I pair this Mexican-style tofu scramble with beans
and top with avocado.
This is one of the many breakfast foods
that I enjoyed eating while I was growing up,
so I'm glad that I was able to veganize it
and share it with you guys.
- [Eden] For breakfast, I made ful.
This is a super popular dish in East Africa
and in the Middle East.
I love it for breakfast on the weekends.
The first thing I'm gonna do is crush up my fava beans
with the back of a wooden spoon.
You can use a jar or whatever you have at home
to crush it up.
Now I'm gonna add some oil to a hot pan,
and then a little bit of diced onions,
and just begin to stir this around and saute it.
Once it begins to get a little bit of color,
you're gonna go ahead and add your spice.
I like to add just a little bit of cumin.
This is optional.
Not everybody likes to add cumin to theirs,
but I like to make sure that every component of my ful
has lots of flavor.
Then I'm gonna go ahead and add some freshly chopped garlic
to the mix, because who doesn't love garlic?
And a little bit of crushed tomato.
Again, I'm adding my own spin,
because I like to make all my stuff super flavorful
and add my own little remix to everything I do.
Now I'm gonna go ahead and just begin to cook down
this mixture and then add my crushed fava beans.
Now I know it looks a little bit like a hot mess right now,
but just trust me.
You're gonna continue to crush this
with the back of your wooden spoon
until you get the texture that you like.
You can cook it down for as long as you'd like.
Add a little bit of water
just to make sure that it doesn't burn,
because it will thicken up really fast,
but you can control the temperature
to make sure that you don't burn your ful.
You don't wanna do that, right?
And then you can go ahead
and just add a little bit of olive oil.
Now we're gonna continue to stir this
and I'm starting to get the texture that I like,
so I know I'm almost done.
And I have all of my fresh ingredients prepped already.
Things like tomatoes, jalapeno peppers,
and red onions ready.
You can also add other vegetables that you like,
but these are the classics.
Then you're gonna top it with some more olive oil.
And this is the most important part,
sprinkling on some berbere spice,
which is an essential East African spice.
Now you're ready to eat it.
I like to get some fresh pita bread and just dip it in.
Whatever you're eating, if you have good food,
you gotta eat with your hands, so get nice and comfortable,
wash your hands, and get ready to enjoy.
It is so delicious and the perfect breakfast.
- [Misha] For lunch, I made som tum,
or papaya salad, and tofu satay.
For the papaya salad, I start with fresh cloves of garlic,
fresh Thai chilies, and pound away.
Pounding them helps intensify the flavors.
Then I add shredded raw papaya,
beautiful and bright cherry tomatoes,
juicy lime slices, and soy sauce.
The word som in Thai means sour and tum means pound,
so there's a lot of pounding in this dish.
The amount of soy sauce varies according to your taste.
A whole lot of lime juice is also a part of this salad.
For a little sweetness to balance the flavors,
I add some coconut palm sugar, and you guessed it,
pound it some more.
And lastly, I add crushed roasted peanuts,
which gives it a nice crunch.
A little more pounding and mixing and it's done.
For tofu satay, I start with a block of extra firm tofu.
I cut them into half inch slices.
Then for the marinade, I use a cup of coconut milk,
curry powder, turmeric for color, and two teaspoons of salt.
I mix until everything is well-combined.
Then I place the tofu that I cut earlier in a bowl.
This marinade is what makes the tofu so flavorful.
Make sure to coat each piece of tofu thoroughly.
For the peanut sauce, I added some coconut milk,
red curry paste, yellow curry paste, coconut palm sugar,
and a little salt, and brought that to a boil to thicken.
Now I'm adding roasted crushed peanuts
and the sauce is ready.
Now I carefully thread the tofu onto some bamboo skewers
that has been marinading for three to four hours,
or it can be left in the fridge overnight as well.
This is an easy dish that is veganized
and adapted from the popular chicken satay
that is a staple food for locals in Thailand.
Som tum is a beautifully balanced salad
with the perfect mixture of sweet, salty, tangy flavors
all in one plate.
Tofu satay make the perfect starter
or main for any vegan meal
and is sure to be devoured in a matter of minutes.
Som tum does not require the use of any utensils
except for your beautiful hands
and it is typically enjoyed with sticky rice.
The star of this dish is the peanut sauce
that everyone fights over
and is accompanied with a delicious pickled cucumber relish.
This dish transports me back
to my childhood dinner table with my family.
What an explosion of flavors.
- [Adrean] For lunch, I decided to make
probably one of my favorite Mexican dishes
to ever exist, pozole rojo.
To start off, I boiled my chile guajillo and chile pasilla
until tender and then I added them into the blender
with garlic cloves, a bay leaf, and water
to help everything blend together.
And for those wondering, the chile guajillo and pasilla
are not spicy chiles.
They give deep posole broth a rich and deep flavor,
but not spicy.
To a large pot, I added water, garlic cloves,
bay leaves, and onion.
And to make the broth, I used a vegan bouillon paste
made out of vegetables.
I let that dissolve in the water,
then I added the chile mixture.
But before the adding the chile mixture into the broth,
I made sure to strain it to remove any large clumps of chile
that the blender might have missed.
After that, I added the hominy to the broth,
and brought everything to a boil,
and cook through for about 30 minutes.
(upbeat music)
I personally love pozole,
because it reminds me so much of family and holidays.
My mom and grandma would always make pozole
to celebrate special occasions,
so the flavors of pozole
automatically take me back to my childhood.
I hope you try this and I hope you enjoy.
- [Eden] For lunch, I made birsin.
This dish is also known as misir
and it's one of my all-time favorites.
The first time that I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna sweat out the onions,
and essentially just add them to a pan
without any water or oil,
and allow the moisture to release.
Then I'm gonna add a generous portion of neutral oil,
and continue to stir up the onions,
and allow these to cook down and caramelize.
As these begin to caramelize,
I'm gonna go ahead and get berbere spice ready.
This spice is so essential to Ethiopian
and Eritrean cuisine, you'll see me use it in every dish.
It adds so much flavor, because it's a blend
of over 13 different spices.
Every family has their own blend,
but some of the essentials are dried chili peppers,
Ethiopian cardamom, ginger, garlic, onions.
It's so flavorful.
You don't have to add as much as I do,
but I'm somebody who likes the heat, you know?
So I always add a generous amount of berbere spice.
Now I added just a little bit of water,
because I wanted to prevent this from sticking
and from burning.
And then I add some crushed tomato.
This is another optional step.
You don't have to add tomatoes to your birsin,
but I love the flavor that it adds.
And then I add some fresh garlic.
I like to add the garlic closer to this part
of cooking down the birsin,
because if you add it too early, it might burn.
Then I add my washed and drained red split lentils.
It's really important that you properly wash your lentils
and it's really important that you don't add
too much water to your pot.
Again, a little bit at a time.
You wanna make sure that these lentils
are thoroughly cooked down,
but you wanna retain all that flavor.
Now is the fun part where you can serve this
with some Injera flatbread.
This dish brings back so many memories of home.
But any time I share a recipe, it's bittersweet for me,
because in Ethiopia, the situation isn't good, you know?
Especially in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray.
And although I enjoy the food and sharing it,
I always remind people to speak up for them.
- [Misha] For dinner, I made a hearty Tom Kha coconut soup.
I start with some water in a pot.
Thai food is all about fresh herbs,
so here, I'm using lemongrass stalks,
and I pound them to release their flavor.
Then I use kha, which is also known as galangal root.
It is closely related to ginger.
Some people call it Thai ginger,
because it resembles ginger so much.
Then I add some dried chilis, kaffir lime leaves,
and one fresh Thai chili.
Give it some time and allow the water
to be infused with all the herbs.
You can also enjoy a facial steam from these herbs
while you're waiting.
Then I added some mushrooms for that umami flavor
and let that cook down.
Then some cubed tofu and creamy coconut milk.
A little coconut palm sugar to bring out all the flavors.
And what makes it authentic is this tamarind paste
that gives this soup a beautiful sweet and tangy flavor.
I continue to cook for a few minutes and added some salt.
I keep a close eye by stirring the pot every few minutes,
so nothing sticks to the bottom or the sides.
Then I turn off the heat
and end it with some fresh lime juice.
By some, I mean a whole lot of lime juice and cilantro.
All herbs added to this soup besides cilantro
are not meant to be eaten.
They flavor the soup and fill my house
with a wonderful citrus-y aroma.
In Thailand, tom kha is served as a main meal
with a side of steamed jasmine rice.
There is nothing more satisfying
than taking a bite of a recipe
that has been passed down within my family tree
for so many generations.
- [Adrean] So for dinner, I decided to make
my favorite vegan carne con chile.
To make the salsa, I boil tomatillos, chile serrano,
onion, and garlic until they were soft.
I added them into the blender with fresh cilantro,
onion powder, garlic powder, and salt.
Then I blended until smooth.
For the meat, I'm using vegan soy beef curls,
which require you to rehydrate them in hot water.
Once the soy curls have been hydrating
for about five minutes,
they usually double in size and soften up.
Now in an oiled pot, I'm adding potatoes
and sauteing them until they become soft.
Then I'm adding the soy curls with seasoning salt,
onion powder, and garlic powder.
Then I added my chile with a tiny bit of water
just to thin it out a little bit.
Then bring it a boil and you're pretty much done.
You have your vegan carne con chile.
This veganized version of carne con chile is insanely good.
I wish everyone can try it.
I promise you won't even miss the meat.
This just goes to show
that you can still enjoy vegan versions
of all the amazing cultural dishes you ate growing up.
Just takes a little bit of practice,
but everything's possible.
- [Eden] For dinner, I made mushroom tibs.
This is a dish that is traditionally made with meat,
but instead of meat, I'm using mushrooms
and I think it tastes amazing.
Now the first thing I'm gonna do
is add some mushrooms to a pan.
I didn't add any oil or anything to it.
I'm just gonna sweat out these mushrooms
and get them to release the moisture.
Then I'm gonna remove the mushrooms from that same pan,
and add some roughly sliced onions,
and a little bit of oil, and just begin to saute this.
Then I'm gonna go ahead and add that berbere spice blend
that I'm always talking about
and that is so essential to East African cooking.
Then add just a little bit of water
to prevent this from burning.
And I like to add just a little bit
of tomato paste for flavor.
Then cook down that tomato paste
with a little bit of the water
and add some fresh tomatoes.
And then add your ginger and garlic mixture.
Then go ahead and add those cooked down mushrooms,
and begin to stir it up, and make sure everything is coated
in that berbere tomato mixture.
Now I like to add some colorful bell peppers
and continue to stir up the pan.
And then for that secret burst of flavor,
I add Ethiopian cardamom, which is known as korarima.
This is optional, but I think it makes up the flavors,
and it's so delicious and fragrant.
Now I like to add some jalapeno peppers for some texture
and some rosemary.
When it comes to Ethiopian and Eritrean cooking,
they often use rosemary and peppers as the garnish,
so I'm gonna go ahead and do that here.
And then serve this up with some Injera.
I love this for dinner, and I love all the memories
it brings up of my family,
and all of the ways that you can remix
these traditional flavors.
If you love the food, I encourage you guys
to check out these recipes and also speak up for the people
who don't have access to it right now in Tigray.
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