Vegan chef Priyanka Naik tackles cleanup of her Crispy Stuffed Poblano

I love spring cleaning,

said absolutely no one ever.

But I do need to get this cleaned up

and that's going to be really easy with Dawn Powerwash.

All we're going to do is spray.

Wipe.

Rinse.

[water splashing]

And it's beautifully clean.

And now I can just get on with my day.

Hey everyone, I'm Priyanka Naik,

a self-taught vegan chef and TV host.

And I absolutely love the springtime.

The produce is super fresh and colorful

and the farmer's market is just packed

with all of this goodness.

So, today I'm going to show you one of my favorite dishes

a crispy stuffed poblano made with spiced leftover rice.

This is a perfect way to clean out your fridge

of that leftover rice and be a little bit more sustainable.

Are you guys ready to get fun and zesty

with me in the kitchen?

So, we're going to get started on the stuffing.

This is leftover rice from takeout

and it's going to go really great in the poblano.

To our pan, we want to add some olive oil, vegan butter,

pop in the whole cumin seeds,

and to that we want to add our red Fresno chilies.

These have about a medium heat.

Minced garlic, some scallions,

but just the scallions, the whites.

We're actually going to use the greens for garnishing.

Remember, this is all zero waste.

We're going to add some sunflower seeds.

They actually have a lot of protein.

And then we're going to add some thawed,

frozen, mixed vegetables.

This smells so good.

Leftover white rice, right in.

This is also a very common way to use leftover rice

in Indian cooking.

Where we add a bunch of spices to it

and just like recreate something new.

Sustainable, vegan, delicious.

Ground flax seed.

Next, we're going to add some water.

This is going to help bind everything together.

Don't you just love a good sizzle?

Some fresh lime juice.

This is going to really brighten up the flavors

and my favorite herb, cilantro.

It's used across Mexican and Indian cooking equally.

We actually want to just set this aside to cool a bit,

because we're going to be using our hands

to do a lot of that stuffing.

Because I'm a busy chef, I actually love to clean as I cook.

So, we're actually going to use this same pan,

to fry up the poblano.

Right after we're done with this rice,

we're going to clean out this pan and then use it again.

And it's going to be super easy with Dawn Powerwash.

All we have to do is spray

and then wipe.

Rinse.

[water splashing]

And now our pan is nice and clean

and ready for me to crisp up our delicious stuffed poblano.

We have to make the batter.

We're actually using chickpea flour.

It's made from dried chickpeas that are just blended down.

And to that we want to add some Mexican seasoning,

a cup and a half of water.

The cool thing about this batter

and why I love it with this dish,

is it mimics something called bagija or pakoras

which are traditional Indian fritters.

Again, that combination of Mexican and Indian flavors.

Some salt,

freshly ground black pepper,

and then next thing we want to do

is get our poblano stuffed.

So you want to make a slit right here in the center.

You have all these seeds in here, remove that.

Fill it up to the brim.

You know, you want to make sure the whole cavity

of the poblano is filled.

Isn't this like screaming spring to you?

This is making me emotional.

I do like to use toothpicks to secure it.

And then we want to dip our poblano into the batter.

Try to coat all sides of it

and just let that rest in the batter

while the oil is heating up.

We want that nice golden crust.

We're going to take our stuffed poblano

that's been battered and carefully put it into the oil.

In that same batter we're actually going to fry up

one of my farmer's market favorites, radishes.

Get those into the batter and just coat them up

so they're kind of like little radish pakoras.

Once we take out the poblano

it can drain on the paper towel lined plate.

We're going to give our poblano a flip

and this is exactly the coloring we want,

a nice golden brown.

So we're going to take it out

and dry it on a paper towel ligned plate.

Next, we want to get our radishes fried up.

Our poblano has cooled enough to touch

so we can just remove our toothpicks.

Now we have to make our delicious creamy cilantro crema.

We're basically just going to

pop everything into the blender.

Vegan cream cheese, and this is going to add a nice tangy,

creamy texture.

We're going to add some red chili powder

because we need it spicy.

Some whole cumin seeds, it's going to add that nice

smokey, earthy flavor.

And of course our delicious, fresh cilantro.

It has tons of nutrients.

It's good for you.

And I know there's a lot of cilantro haters out there

but if you make this, I promise you will be converted.

And then some fresh lemon juice for that brightness,

freshness and acidity.

Blend it up.

[mixer whirring]

Okay. So we blended up, our creamy cilantro crema

and we actually put it into a squeeze bottle.

So then I can drizzle it on to our crispy stuffed poblano.

We're going to take our remaining Mexican spiced rice.

And we're going to put that on the bottom of the plate.

The star of the show, we're going to gently place that

onto this bed of rice, drizzle it with our cilantro crema.

I add the greens of our scallions.

Remember the whites that we sautéd into the rice?

No waste here.

Our sunflower seeds

and then our delicious crispy radish pakoras.

And then I actually like to add a little fresh radish

cause there's a lot of browns and golden tones

but this really just makes it pop.

And last, fresh coriander.

And that's it.

How beautiful is that?

It's almost too pretty to eat

but not, because I do want to eat it.

This is going to be big.

This might be a challenge.

I know I shouldn't be talking with my mouth full,

but this is so good.

The poblano is crisp and tender and cooked to perfection.

This is such an awesome combination.

So, if you have any takeaway from this dish it's

you have to make it

because you have to feel as good and satisfied as I do now.