Intro: Courtney….Courtney Uncooked. I’m Courtney Uncooked cause that’s how I like
my food. The vitamins and the minerals, you know they are get through. Absorbed into the body
so that nothing gets lost, When you start eating raw of your health you’ll be the
boss. Raw vegan for my health and you know that health is wealth. To help you stay
your best, we will welcome special guests. So let’s go make a recipe and have lots of fun,
Your healthy living journey has just begun cause I’m Courtney….Courtney Uncooked.
Courtney….Courtney Uncooked.
Courtney: Hi, I’m Courtney Uncooked, and this is my friend Jonah Shaver, who’s also
the chef at the Green Cat, which is one of my favorite restaurants of all time. We’re so
lucky to have Jonah here today. He’s going to show us his delicious Sesame Asian
salad. It is so good. It’s got a lot of ingredients, but it is worth it. But before we get
started, Jonah, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Jonah Shaver: Hi guys. My name is Jonah Shaver. I’m from the Virginia Beach area,
local; lived here my whole life. My cooking background, I come from The Egg Bistro,
started at the Chesapeake location when I was about 15-years-old, busing tables. I was
putting in work and then I moved my way up to prep cook, line cook, and eventually
started leading the line to success. I loved cooking. It became my passion very fast. But
then I became vegan almost three years ago. Next month will be three years.
Courtney: YAYYY, go Jonah. The rest is history.
Jonah Shaver: Yes.
Courtney: Now you’re at the Green Cat.
Jonah Shaver: Yes.
Courtney: Making me delicious food all the time. Well, Jonah is about to follow his
dreams and move out to Colorado. He’s 20-years-old. He’s got his whole life ahead of
him, so I snagged him before he goes out there and becomes a famous vegan chef for
my show and he’s going to show me this salad. It’s absolutely delicious. It’s a Sesame
Asian salad; really, really excited. Where do we start? What do we do first?
Jonah Shaver: All right, first step, always start with your greens. Get them chopped up,
and fine. Make sure the stalks aren’t too big. I like to use the stalks because that’s just
nutrition you’re missing out on. Then you can go ahead and add it to your mixing bowl,
that beautiful, vibrant green kale; full of life, vitamin K, and then you can just add in–
Courtney: Some shredded carrots, some broccoli. And this was cool that he used the
stems. I never used the stems, but he chopped up a whole stalk of broccoli, so that was
neat to watch. And he’s very good at knife skills. His knife skills put me to shame.
Jonah Shaver: When you’re dealing with stocks of broccoli, you always want to peel off
the fibers on the outside because then you wont get that hard to digest feeling you get
when you eat raw broccoli because that’s why people usually stick to the florets. But I
don’t like to waste any of the products, so we use all of it. Then you’re going to add in
some green beans, some peanuts–
Courtney: Raw peanuts?
Jonah Shaver: Raw peanuts of course. And then we can move on to the dressing.
Courtney: So do we toss this yet or–?
Jonah Shaver: It’s not really going to make a difference.
Courtney: You wait until you have the dressing and then you toss it all together?
Jonah Shaver: Yes.
Courtney: Okay.
Jonah Shaver: So we always start with the liquids. No specific order, but just to get
some–
Courtney: Water, sorry.
Jonah Shaver: No, you’re fine. No worries. Yeah, you just go ahead and start with your
liquids just to give it a nice base to start with the blend, and then you can go ahead and
add in your seasonings once you get there–
Courtney: Sesame oil, lime juice, you said a pinch of cayenne and this cayenne pepper
is actually made by my friend Darien Aybar. And the name of his company is The
Broketarion and his spices are delicious. So this is actually a cayenne pepper blend, but
it’s going to be better than just cayenne pepper. And I’m going to do two pinches
Because it’s so good. Yes, yes, cool.
Jonah Shaver: I love Cayenne.
Courtney: All right. So then we have a little bit of pepper, some agave and some salt and some mustard.
Jonah Shaver: Some salt.
Courtney: Pinch of salt. Take the mustard here–
Jonah Shaver: Get all that out there, can’t lose on any of the mustard
Courtney: The mustard’s good. And then we have some grated ginger and grated
garlic.
Jonah Shaver: Beautiful. And it’s not too specific on how small you want it since it’s
going in the blender. Normally I would grate that a little smaller if I was sautéing but
we’re just dealing with a dressing right now, so no worries.
Courtney: And you said to add the tahini in last.
Jonah Shaver: Yes.
Courtney: And why do we do that?
Jonah Shaver: I just find it easier to have your thicker agents on top and let the blade
spin around in the liquids and it helps to just get a more of a creamy texture.
Courtney: Okay. All right, so I think that’s everything. Oh, and then we have some white
wine vinegar.
Jonah Shaver: Beautiful. It’s going to give you a nice little–
Courtney: And I always like to start off on low.
Jonah Shaver: Yes, definitely, just to get the initial chunks blended up and then you
can turn it off whenever you’re ready. I’m glad you’re excited as I am.
Courtney: I’m so excited. Is that good enough?
Jonah Shaver: Yeah, let’s see.
Courtney: Looks good to me.
Jonah Shaver: Yeah, nice and creamy; nice and thick. That’s exactly what we’re
looking for. That nice little tahini brownish golden color, I love it. I love me a thick
dressing.
Courtney: Now how often do you make this?
Jonah Shaver: So at the Green Cat we do grab and go items and we like to mix it up
as much as possible. So I would say I make this maybe twice a month there. And then,
it has a five-day shelf life with dressing.
Courtney: In a refrigerator?
Jonah Shaver: Yes.
Courtney: All right Jonah let’s see you toss that salad!
Jonah Shaver: Time to toss around.
Courtney: Any techniques you want to share with us about tossing salad?
Jonah Shaver: Definitely, make sure you’re always getting all the way to the
Bottom and mixing very thoroughly. Just like needing, that’s probably not the right
word, but making sure that the dressing gets all over everything.
Courtney: Now, at the Green Cat, you probably do this with your hands and with gloves
on. I think I’ve seen you right.
Jonah Shaver: Yes, definitely, it’s a lot easier with your hands, but–
Courtney: Some people just don’t like to cook with their hands and make things with
their hands. They’re going to want to do it this way. I don’t really like getting my hands
dirty all that much either, so I would probably do this.
Jonah Shaver: Me personally, I like to feel each and every ingredient but that’s when
I’m dealing with my own food or even other people’s food, but then I’ll have gloves on,
so don’t worry about that.
Courtney: So how did you come up with this salad? What was your inspiration?
Jonah Shaver: So my inspiration was– to start with tahini my inspiration was we have a
kale caesar salad that we have at The Green Cat. That’s super good. It’s like kale,
walnuts, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and then we mix it with the– it’s a tahini-based
dressing, but it’s definitely not– it doesn’t have like the complexity of this one. I added
definitely a lot more spices, but that’s where my inspiration came from. And then it was
probably around August when I came up with this, and Jackie had asked me to come up
with a new salad going into the Fall; a kale one. And preferably something super hearty,
super yummy, lots of nutrition and I just sat down and started making, that’s usually how
I come up with my best creations with no real idea in mind, I just kind of go for it and see
what happens.
Courtney: Just go with the flow.
Jonah Shaver: Yes, definitely. I love that. All right, are we going for a taste now? That’s
looking nice and–
Courtney: Alright, yes we’re going for a taste, just going to get me a fork. Let see what
we got and just put a little bit in here…
Jonah Shaver: Sure. You get a good mix of ingredients, some broccoli–
Courtney: I’m just so– you know, I used to think that you had to have a stove and an
oven cooking and baking something to get that delicious smell, but everything we make
just has a delicious smell. Thank you.
Jonah Shaver: You got everything in there?
Courtney: All right, so let’s see. I got a bean. I got a peanut. I got some carrot. It’s like a
party in my mouth.
Jonah Shaver: Yes, success. I’m so glad you like it.
Courtney: Thank you for sharing this.
Jonah Shaver: So glad you like it.
Courtney: Gosh, it’s so good. I’m feeling inspired.
Courtney Singing: Making a Sesame Asian salad with Jonas Shaver. This salad’s
delicious…you’re gonna love the flavor. The green beans and the peanuts make it
taste so unique…We put everything in the salad but the kitchen sink. I’m sad that
Jonah’s moving to Colorado… He’s leaving this town smoother than an avocado. No,
you don’t need a stove or an oven to cook, just a blender, dehydrator and Courtney
Uncooked.