- Chef Imani is serving up a Seder - With the blewish twist.

Passover Seder essentially means a Passover meal.

- And the Passover we're gonna be working on is a little different, right?

- Yeah.

We're doing vegan style today.

- Awesome.

- Passover called Pesach in Hebrew, marks the liberation of ancient Jews from Egyptian slavery.

It's the most celebrated holiday for Jewish families.

The Passover Seder is a ceremonial dinner held on the first night and sometimes the second night of Passover.

The Seder plate, which contains six symbolic foods is central to the ceremony.

(upbeat music) - Growing up, normally for Passover we'd have brisket.

Um, as I'm turning more into this holistic and healthy lifestyle, I'm turning more to vegan and plant-based food.

So I was like, what can I do to supplement, you know that delicious brisket?

And we could do slow roasted Jack fruit and all those other good things, but I was like, we could also do this stuffed acorn squash and we're gonna fill it with a nice little herby base blend and stuff that squash right there.

- [Chef Yia] I am super interested in your background.

- [Chef Imani] Yeah.

So I'm a black Jew.

I grew up with mostly my white side.

I grew up a very independent kid.

Um, I grew up in a, you know, single parent household.

I was the baby of three.

So having to cook was really no option.

I needed to eat.

So I learned to love it.

So it's amazing that I can create my own blewish meal and share it with everybody.

- [Chef Yia] Blewish.

I love that.

How do you balance your black roots and your Jewish roots?

- [Chef Imani] Growing up was really just both feet in two different doors, trying to figure out how to stay in my lane.

So it brought a lot of identity questions truly just an identity journey.

It's important that we go back to our roots and our ancestors and understand where we came from.

So we know where we're going.

And a lot of that is being able to preserve our identity no matter who we are.

This is kosher margarine.

Just toss in all of this deliciousness.

- [Chef Yia] I mean, I'm excited about this because it's gonna be so flavorful.

- [Chef Imani] So here we'll kind of get those sauteing for a little bit there.

We'll add the rest of our ingredients with the kale and the mushrooms.

As we know, that kale's gonna cook down very small, so... - [Chef Yia] Yep.

- [Chef Imani] There we go.

Perfect.

- [Chef Yia] Hehe.

- [Chef Imani] Here's our mixture.

Very colorful.

Very beautiful.

- [Chef Yia] We're gonna put this all in that acorn and then we're gonna bake it off.

- [Chef Imani] Yep, exactly.

And we're gonna add the protein.

- [Chef Imani] Yeah.

Quinoa is protein, just like case you didn't know.

- [Chef Yia] Sure.

Okay.

- [Chef Imani] Hahaha.

- [Chef Yia] So you mix it all up.

- Yeah.

Just mix it all up.

So really just want to grab it.

And stuff it.

You're good to go.

- [Chef Yia] Now with the acorn squash, is it pre-roasted?

- [Chef Imani] I did pre-roast it, yeah.

- [Chef Yia] So it just makes the process a little faster?

- [Chef Imani] Yeah.

- For me, I'm like a super over stuffer.

- Yeah.

Absolutely.

I wanna see that squash grow.

- [Chef Yia] Yeah.

There we go.

- [Chef Imani] Is that Yia approved?

- I mean, put a little brisket in there...haha.

- Haha.

Next time.

- Yeah.

- [Chef Imani] All right.

That's amazing.

We'll just throw that right in the oven.

And next we'll do the matzah balls.

This is the matzah and this is the key significant food and everything to Passover.

- So without this, we don't have Passover.

- [Chef Yia] Matzah is an unleavened flatbread.

It's made from just flour and water and is baked before it has a chance to rise.

Matzah is an integral part of the Passover Seder.

Three pieces of matzah are placed in the center of the table and are used at different times during the ceremony.

- [Chef Imani] So during Passover, we aren't allowed to have breads.

So it's like a week full of matzah, pretty much.

Um, and then this is my most favorite form of matzah, is the matzah ball.

Um, it's very similar to a dumpling.

Like, it is mushy goodness.

You don't want a matzah ball too hard.

And where dumplings are, you know, you can kind of chew on it.

Where this will just kind of slowly disintegrate in your mouth.

- What's so cool is like, it absorbs all that flavor in that broth - Oh, my gosh.

Yup.

- [Chef Yia] And that's why it's very important to flavor your broth really well.

- Yes.

- Then you can get it crushed, right?

- Yup.

- Yeah.

- So a food processor will literally just do this really quick and easy.

- [Chef Imani] We'll crack four eggs.

You can just whisk 'em up and then we'll slowly add it to our mix here.

We're also gonna add four tablespoons of oil.

This is more of a Ashkenazi version of Passover food.

- [Chef Yia] What is Ashkenazi?

- [Chef Imani] It's a term that originated once a lot of the Jews fled Poland and Germany and all those little areas.

Um, my side of the family are actually Polish Jews, um, and they were Zimarowskis when they were in Poland.

And then they were able to escape here to America and they became Zimmerman.

The ingredient, secret ingredient to making them so big and fluffy...

Some people say club soda, that might work for another Bubbe, but for my Bubbe it was baking powder.

- [Chef Yia] Oh, okay.

Cool.

- So, we'll toss a little baking powder in that mix.

- So we got a little baking powder in there.

- And then we're gonna go you're slowly gonna add that to this.

I'm just gonna keep... - I'm adding this?

Okay.

- Yep.

I'm just gonna work it with my fingers.

We don't wanna over manipulate it.

- Okay.

- So, just kind of work it.

- Keep going?

- Yep.

We're gonna use all those eggs.

Eggs do have to go in matzah ball soup.

That's like the original way.

Apple sauce or garbanzo bean juice would be a replacement for the egg.

- If you wanna go like full vegan?

- Full blown vegan.

So here we've got this thick bind and we will let it sit and then it will get hard.

- Yep.

- So it'll be a lot easier to form that ball.

- [Robot Voice] 30 minutes later - Okay, It was kind of like, goopy a little bit.

- Yeah.

- But now it's like come together, you know?

So, it's more of like a Play-Doh texture.

- [Chef Imani] Yeah.

And we're able to now really ball it up a lot easier.

(playful music) - [Chef Imani] So we'll come over here.

We've got our broth ready.

We'll let it sit for 20 minutes while it cooks.

And we'll be good.

Boom.

- [Chef Yia] Everything looks so delicious.

Walk me through what we have here.

- [Chef Imani] We have got matzah ball soup.

We've got our stuffed acorn squash here.

We have the charoset.

We have the Seder plate over here and then we've got the tzimmes over here.

All right.

Let's dig in.

- Hey, I know.

I've been eyeballing this matzah ball soup.

Man, you are so right.

Like what?

The moment I put my spoon in there.

It's like a cloud.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Like this soft cloud.

- This like fluffy goodness.

- Mmm.

- [Chef Imani] So simple, right?

Like you said, but just like hits the spot every time.

- What I love about that is like right away, you're thinking, oh it's like a dense dough ball, but it's not.

It's like a fluffy cloud of flavor.

With this quinoa, you can really smell that rosemary and garlic.

- [Chef Yia] That mushroom comes out and it's so meaty.

That's just incredible stuff in there.

Talk me through a little bit about the Seder plate.

- [Chef Imani] This is a modified vegan Seder plate.

- [Chef Yia] Mm Hmm.

- Every single piece on this Seder plate, can symbolized every single chapter that we were able to overcome.

It's really important that we're able to look at this and notice that not just in Judaism as well as a lot of different cultures we have foods that represent the adversity we face in the triumphs we are able to overcome.

- I've never seen a Seder plate before.

So to be able to put it on a plate and have different symbol represent different things.

And then being able to use that to tell story is so incredible.

- Let this be our common ground and let food change the world.

(upbeat music begins) - I still get kicked outta my mom's kitchen.

For Hanukkah she was kicking me out.

- Oh, I get kicked outta my mom's kitchen all the time.

Yeah.

She's like, what are you doing?

Get outta here.

Child.

- I was just making and sure you ain't gonna burn yourself, mama.

- And then that's the part where you look at her and you're like, I'm a professional.

- Yup.

Hehehe.

- I do this for a living, you know?