- Washington Grown is made possible by funding from the Washington State Department of Agriculture and the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

And by The Potato Farmers of Washington.

Learn why Washington is home to the world's most productive potato fields and farmers by visiting potatoes.com.

- Hi everyone, I'm Kristi Gorenson and welcome to "Washington Grown."

Rotation crops are extremely important for Washington farmers, and some of the most important rotation crops here in eastern Washington, are peas, lentils, and chickpeas.

Today, we're learning how Washington's legumes are helping farmers save the planet.

I'm visiting Basic American Foods to see their bean processing plant.

- There's probably not a Mexican fast food restaurant out there, that is not using our beans.

- And, I'm making special Ethiopian cuisine, at Feast World Kitchen in Spokane.

- Now is when we start crying, 'cause it's so strong.

[Kristi chuckles] We have makeup.

- Then, I'm visiting Mader Farms.

- As much as I love my parents, my first words weren't mom or dad, they were combine or tractor.

- All this and more, today on "Washington Grown."

[upbeat music] This is my favorite part of the day.

You gave me this job just to keep me occupied, didn't you?

This is what fine dining is all about, right here.

[Tomás imitates dog howling] - I could eat these all day.

[chuckles] - You all make this look so simple and easy.

Cheers to that.

[chuckling] [glasses clank] - I only hang out in pretty potato fields.

[chuckles] [airplane engine roars] [upbeat music] - Whether you're from Washington, or Ethiopia.

We're all neighbors.

That's the mindset here at Feast World Kitchen in Spokane.

A nonprofit organization, focused on supporting refugees, and immigrants.

Every day a new immigrant chef, brings a unique cuisine to eastern Washington.

- It's great to share a piece of culture, and a piece of community, that is through food, which in my family growing up, is a big experience of love.

- We like trying different cultures' food and it's a good place to do that.

- I think all they'll take is a couple bites, and they'll be wanting to come back.

- I came here for a good future for me, and for my family too.

- Maisa Abudayha, is the co-director of Feast.

As an asylum seeker from Jordan, she knows what it feels like to seek community in a new country, and how food can bring all sorts of people together.

- For now, we have 85 chef, it's a rotation.

- Eighty-five?

- 85 chefs, - Chefs?

- Yeah.

- Wow.

- And some of them, really talented, and they used to have restaurant, in their own country.

It's like traveling all over the world, in this small kitchen.

It's very important for those refugee, and immigrant to start blending with the community.

- So experience Jordanian food here, Syrian, Sudanese.

- They're giving them a chance, by giving them an outlet to share their culture, with everybody here.

- It is nice to come to a place, and get home cooked food, and support local people.

- It tastes like, as if your mother is cooking for you.

That's that's how it feels for me.

- You wanna do something that you love, and I love to support those immigrant, and refugee, and I love what I'm bringing to the community, yeah.

I love everything about it.

- Yeah.

- Stay tuned later in the show, when Chef Biety and I make Doro Wat, a special Ethiopian dish accompanied by delicious Washington lentils.

What do people say, when they taste your food?

- They're so happy sometime they cry, because sometime I do spicy.

[Biety and Kristi laugh] [upbeat music] - A few years ago, we toured Basic American Foods in Moses Lake, to see how they're turning fresh Washington potatoes, into dehydrated mashed goodness, for Thanksgiving dinner.

Well today, we're back again, only this time, we're talking about beans.

- So on this end of the plant is the bean process, and the other end of the plant is the potato process.

- Mike Dodds is the raw material manager for Basic American Foods.

He works with growers to get pinto beans to make into refried beans, for restaurants.

- We bring these raw beans in, we run 'em through our process, and basically, do what you do at home.

We soak 'em, we cook 'em, and then we form 'em.

Then we take all the water out of 'em.

So when you get it home, you get a bag of dried product, and all you have to do, is add water.

- Add water.

- Instead of hours, in minutes you have refried beans.

- Love that, I want that at home.

[chuckles] - We want you to have that at home too.

- Yeah, I kinda want that at home.

Brian Meiners is the plant manager at Basic American.

The product he and his team produce, makes its way into restaurants all over.

- I tell my friends and family, that any taco you can think of as a restaurant, we're behind them, usually with the refried beans, because they want to be quick service.

- There's probably not a Mexican fast food restaurant out there, that is not using our beans, just because it's so convenient.

You know, even in the little town of Moses Lake, it's very hard to drive down any street in town, and not go by our customers.

- Right.

[chuckles] - That's a lot of burritos, we are... - It's a lot of burritos.

- we are making.

- We bring beans in from not only Washington, but other growing areas, so some of 'em are railed in.

- What our teams notice, is that the beans that are grown here, are usually a brighter, larger, bean than what we get in other regions.

- So Washington grows good looking beans.

- Yes, we do.

[Kristi chuckles] Yeah, we grow a lot of good looking stuff here.

- We do.

- Time to tour the plant.

So this is really, really, big.

[chuckles] - Yeah it is, it's a quarter million pounds of beans.

- Oh my God, okay.

- Now, we need to get outta agriculture, and get into food processing - From here, the beans are washed, and then go through a process to remove debris.

- If there's any foreign material, it's gonna get stuck under the slats, the beans go over.

Just like a river, we work really hard to make sure they are clean, clean, beans.

- Yeah.

- Next, we climb to the top of the plant, where the beans are run through more de-rockers, then pre-soaked for cooking.

[machine loudly sifting] - The heat that I'm feeling up here, is that from the water or... - The heat you're feeling up here is all this hot water.

- I'd have very good skin if I had to like, spend a lot of time in here.

[chuckles] From here, the beans are cooked, formed, and then head into a dryer.

- So at this point, [dryer loudly blowing] the beans kind of look like ground beef almost.

[chuckles] - Yes, they do, they're close to the consistency of the canned refried beans, - Yeah.

- They're about that same moisture, that would come out of a can.

But now we're gonna take them down to a shelf-stable dry moisture.

And we'll get a year of shelf life outta these beans.

- Once the beans are dehydrated, they're seasoned, packaged, and then sent to the customer.

- People, for some reason, think that anything dehydrated is not real.

- Yeah.

- And that's not the case at all, right?

- Right.

- If these are real raw materials that are going in, and we're not altering them at all, all we're doing is taking the water out of it, - Yeah.

- and making it more convenient for people to use.

- And you know, we have to end the day, with the taste test.

Delicious.

- Yeah.

- Mm-hm.

- Thank you.

We work hard to make it so... - Oh, I can tell you work hard.

[Brian chuckles] That is so delicious.

[upbeat music] - Hey, let's go.

If you're looking to satisfy a Middle Eastern fix, then check out Jerusalem Middle Eastern cuisine.

Now, you can experience Jerusalem style food, right here in Spokane.

- We brought the Middle East to Washington.

- Middle East, to Washington, I love it.

Majda Ritchie, started the business because she was craving the type of food she used to get back at home.

Her goal, to make all of her customers feel like they're in Jerusalem.

- First of all, I was just very pregnant.

[Majda and Tomás chuckle] I was craving like, our Middle Eastern like, - Okay.

- fresh food, and I just couldn't find it anywhere.

There was Middle Eastern food, - and it was good, good, food, - Right?

- but it wasn't representing my food.

- Today we're trying Majda's falafel, made with fried Washington chickpeas, hummus, pickles, and a bright sesame sauce.

Boy, look at the size of that thing.

Yeah, there you go.

That's a messy meal, - Mm-hm.

- but it's well worth it.

I am expecting a tzatziki sauce, and it's not there.

But you know what, with the pickles, and the hummus, I don't miss it, it's lovely.

Now let's see what folks think of this Jerusalem falafel, made right here in Washington.

- Looks delicious.

[upbeat music] - That's pretty good.

- Oh look, I mean it didn't take long for that smile, to come out.

[chuckles] - That's pretty good.

- It has a nice flavor, like a little bit of mustard, maybe.

- There's so much happening in my mouth right now.

- I don't know, it's really good though.

- It's like the perfect texture, it has like that crunch factor at the beginning, but then it just kind of melts in your mouth.

- We need more of garbanzo beans in our life, and if there's any way for us to get more, I think this is the ticket.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

- Coming up, I'm making traditional Ethiopian cuisine at Feast World Kitchen.

Now is when we start crying, - Don't cry.

- 'cause it's so strong.

- You have makeup.

- And, we're in the kitchen at Second Harvest, trying out some lentil tacos.

[upbeat music] - My name is Bietlehem, and I'm from Ethiopia.

This is coffee from Ethiopia.

After eat everything, and then we have coffee.

[coffee grinding] This is our culture, real life.

Every different country, they have culture, our culture is coffee.

[coffee glugging] - I wanna try my coffee, yeah, I love it.

- Bietlehem, or as she's called, Biety, is a refugee, living here in Spokane.

As a mother of two, one of her greatest joys, is cooking traditional Ethiopian dishes, like this one, with Washington lentils.

- Before she's coming over here, she was in a refugee camp in Egypt.

- Maisa Abudayha, is the co-director of Feast World Kitchen.

A nonprofit organization, that allows immigrant chefs like Biety, to come in, and cook for customers.

Today, Biety's cooking a special Ethiopian dish, called Doro Wat.

- The first time she cooked Doro Wat, it was really good, and I told her, "You have to share this."

- In Ethiopian culture, you don't use utensils.

Instead, you eat with a special bread called, injera.

- The injera, is basically like a bread.

- It's kind of like a pancake-y texture, you're supposed to tear it, it's really like, spongy and bubbly, and then you're supposed to scoop it with your hands.

- Pinch a little bit of food, fingers.

- The injera itself, is really tangy, it's not what you would necessarily expect out of a pancake.

- Warm spices, lots of flavor.

- It just melt in your mouth.

- It's delicious.

[Patron chuckles] - Time to cook with chef Biety.

And something smells really, really, good.

- That's surprise.

[Biety and Kristi chuckle] - It is a surprise, it smells delicious.

What do we have in here right now?

- Doro Wat.

- Doro Wat, okay.

- And that is a traditional dish?

- Yes, my country, they have a chicken leg, - Mm-hm.

- and they have egg.

- It smells delicious.

Biety's going to show me how to prepare Doro Wat, starting by cutting up a Washington grown red onion.

I will let you cut the onion.

- Okay.

- Yes, 'cause I think you're the expert at it.

Now is when we start crying, - Don't cry.

- its so strong.

[laughs] - We have makeup.

[Kristi chuckling] - We may have struggled a little.

- Yeah, I'm crying.

- Are you crying?

[laughs] - It's really strong.

- Yeah.

- Thanks.

[laughing] We put some oil in the pan, then add some berbere spice blend, cardamom, and a special seven-spice blend.

So this is heavy on the spice.

- Yes.

- Berbere?

- Berbere.

- Ber... - Yeah.

[both chuckling] - From here, Biety adds chicken, and hard boiled eggs, then cooks, for over two hours.

What do people say when they taste your food?

- They so happy, sometime they cry, because sometime I do spicy.

[both laughing] - I'm so tired, and then after that I see customer they're happy, I say, well... - It's all worth it.

- Yeah.

- Biety also prepared two side dishes with Washington lentils, and Washington potatoes.

Next up, it's time to prep the special Ethiopian bread.

- Bread called injera.

- Injera?

- Yeah.

- Okay, so it's almost like a crêpe, or a pancake, or something like that.

- See?

- Whoa.

[upbeat music] I have no idea how to eat this.

So you have to show me.

- I will show you now how you eat.

- Be careful your clothes.

- Yep.

- That's delicious.

Oh, there's the spice.

- Yes, coming.

[chuckles] - Everything just works so well together.

Just rich, and spicy, and yummy.

- That's right.

- Like nothing I've ever tasted and I love it.

And we can't forget about the Washington grown lentil dish.

So these lentils, this doesn't take a whole lot of time to make delicious.

- No.

- It's really flavorful.

- With injera, so good.

- 'Cause it adds a little, tang.

- I like lentil, you know.

Yeah, the lentil's good, huh?

- Wow.

- To find more restaurants and recipes, visit us on YouTube.

Atop this gorgeous hill in Dayton, miles of farmland stretch across the Palouse.

The view here at Hutchins Farm, is hard to beat.

Clay Hutchins, brought us up to his favorite spot in his green pea field.

From up here, it's not tough to see why he loves this area so much.

Why is Columbia County a good place for crops like the green peas?

- Have you looked around?

[Kristi chuckles] How can Columbia County not be a good place to be?

- It is absolutely jaw droppingly beautiful.

- Columbia County has a good rainfall, very good soils, I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but anybody, if they came out to a spot like this and looked around, I think they'd have a hard time arguing with me that this is not a beautiful place to be.

- For farmers like Clay, sustainability is a huge concern.

Anisha Dew, is the District Manager for the Columbia Conservation District.

Her job is to assist farmers, in a sustainability focused initiative, called "The Voluntary Stewardship Program."

Projects like soil testing, are supported by the program, allowing farmers to focus on keeping their fields healthy, for the future.

- The landowner's gonna really own the projects, 'cause they feel like they have the freedom of being able to do that project on their own.

- So we've got a field, where we've taken many soil samples, the conservation district can take that, compile data, see what we learn.

So hopefully, we can find where the economic thresholds of applying some of these products are, to help other farmers besides just us.

That's the ultimate goal, is to help, not just this farm, but to learn, so we can continue to try to find better ways to produce food.

- In all of these things that we are doing, the cost is high.

- The amount of money that it would take to do some of these trials on our own, is if not cost prohibitive, it's at least daunting, at least scary.

- That is really the only way, that I would be participating in something like this, is because of that cost share.

- It is a way of them being able to actually afford to get something done, instead of just having to sit there, and watch it disappear.

That sustainability of those farmlands, is huge for our world, in considering that we need food on our tables.

Farming is very dynamic, and very complex, and there's a lot of things that go into it.

So while we are worrying about like, prices going up in grocery stores, they're worrying about whether or not they're gonna be able to grow their crops this year.

And that gets us our food, in the grocery stores.

- We want our soils to be productive for a long time, because ultimately, we produce a lot of food.

We've got a responsibility, to take care of it for the future generations, so they have something that's not only beautiful, but productive to feed a world that's gonna need food.

[upbeat music] - Coming up, I'm visiting Mader Farms.

- As much as I love my parents, my first words weren't mom or dad, they were combine, or tractor.

[upbeat music] - When you think of Washington, you probably think mostly of apples, wheat, and potatoes, because those are some of what we produce the most of.

But what you might not know, is that we also produce lots of legumes.

Legumes are a huge, probably underutilized, especially in their dry form, in a lot of kitchens.

And I want to show you guys today, that they're very easy to work with.

You do have to plan ahead a little bit, but I promise you, if you toss them in some water in the morning, by the time you came home for dinner, they would most likely, be ready for you to use.

But today, we're gonna show you how to do the garbanzo beans, and how to soak.

We are gonna put them in the bowl here, [beans clanking in bowl] and we're just gonna fill with water, over all the beans.

If you're home throughout the day, you can just go through every now and then, and just give 'em a little stir, and that's it.

Then you come home, rinse them off, and throw 'em in your dish.

And if you really are pinched for time, and you were not able to soak your beans, canned beans are always in our pantry, and you can throw them into stews, if you're missing noodles, or you want to substitute for something else.

Beans are such an easy way to just add in another element, to give your soup more protein, fiber, and maybe a little bit more texture and color, than it would've had otherwise.

I hope that this encourages you to try legumes in your home, and all of your soups, and your dishes, and that you have fun experimenting, and playing with the variety that we have, here in Washington State.

- Here in the rolling hills of Whitman County, wheat, and other grains, grow as far as the eye can see.

But here at Mader Farms, we see something different beginning to take root.

We are standing in the middle of a lentil field, right?

- Yes, that is correct.

- Okay.

Kevin Mader and his family, are in their fifth generation of farmers, here in Whitman County.

You like it?

- so oh, I love it.

As much as I love my parents, my first words weren't mom or dad.

They were a combine or tractor.

- Farming has evolved over the generations.

Steve Mader, Kevin's father, has watched the farm change over, and over again.

- What's amazing is, my grandfather grew crops, that they thought were great, that were 25 bushels of the acre, every other year.

And now we're growing crops, that are in excess of a hundred bushels, with all the land used, every year.

And the land is in better condition now, than it was in the 1900's, and it's been a pleasure to watch them take their passion, and go with it, and change it, and do more with it.

- Yeah.

Now the Maders grow a wide range of crops.

Some of these crops, are a crucial part of a regenerative farming cycle.

- So the wheat takes the nitrogen out, - Yep.

- and so you plant legumes like this, - Yep.

- to put it back in.

- Yep, these have just been planted, and lentils, being a legume, are a nitrogen fixing plant.

And so they put nitrogen back in the ground, and so it's a really healthy part of our farm rotation.

- But how does such a small crop, put something so important back in the soil?

- Down here on the roots, there's little nitrogen nodules.

They're already putting down some nitrogen, and that is really important for the fall wheat that'll be planted behind this crop.

[machine clicking] - Once the legumes have done their part, they're harvested, and taken to the Mader's own cleaning facility.

- From here, we clean the products from the field, and it works its way through all of our systems, and down into our tiny bag line.

- Sarah Mader, Kevin's wife, manages the facility, where they strive to make a positive impact.

- Quality, is what this plant was designed for in the beginning, and quality is at the top of our minds.

We have a little motto to help reinforce, and remind our employees.

Imagine the conversations people are having.

We really want them to take that to heart, and we start that at the farm.

So we've changed our farming practices over the years, based on consumer feedback, and the heart of the brand was really born, to connect the consumer, to the farmer.

As we look at our farming, and we look to how to do things better, and be better, it's important to sustain what we have.

That's all part of what we do, when we produce a product like this, that our family puts our name on this brand.

That's kind of the nice thing, is that we have full control, from when that seed goes into the ground, to when it arrives at the consumer.

- That's awesome.

[upbeat music] - Welcome back, we are in The Kitchen at Second Harvest Food Bank in Spokane, where we get to taste some awesome recipes, that people send in to allrecipes.com, and I have my cohorts with me today.

Tomás is here to help me taste some of these recipes.

- Good to see you, and good to see you guys at home as well.

- Yeah, and we have Chef, and culinary instructor, Laurent Zirotti.

- Very, - Yes.

- very good to be here - Thank you.

- with you, thank you very much.

- Bonjour.

- Bonjour Kristi, - Bonjour.

- bonjour Tomás.

- Bonjour.

[Kristi chuckles] - And so this episode was fun.

- Yeah.

- It's one of my favorite episodes of Washington Grown, because we got to do so many different things, and learn so many different things.

- Yes a very educational episode, I'm sure for you guys at home too.

- Like the pinto beans, and seeing them turned into refried beans, which I love, and then dehydrated, and what they look like.

It was just so cool.

And to know that, you know when you go to some Mexican restaurants in Washington, and all over the place, that those could be the ones that you're eating.

So lentil tacos, is what we are going to be tasting today.

- Okay, there you go.

- What, lentil tacos.

- I like that, lentils is another legume - Yeah.

- that is great for protein, and minerals, and vitamins, - Yes.

- And such a variety of lentils, the red, the yellow, the green, the puy, my favorite the caviar, the black one, the beluga, ooh I love delicious.

- Nice, - They're hearty as well.

- so this is vegan version, of your classic taco, using lentils instead of ground beef, along with all those other taco flavors that we know, and love.

So let's see how we make these lentil tacos.

- Okay.

[upbeat music] - This is so beautiful, it's bright, - and it looks hearty, I mean, it looks delicious.

- I want to eat it.

- I love the idea of being able to replace, the standard ground beef, or chicken, with something like lentils.

- Right, so this is good for meatless Mondays, and Taco Tuesdays.

- Right.

- Right?

[Chef Laurent and Kristi chuckle] I like that, I love lentils, - I like it as an alternative.

- and it's right there.

- Right.

- It's right in the Palouse.

- It's very flavorful, and it's just, it's so awesome, I mean lentils are one of those foods, again where, they're probably in your pantry right now, and you don't even know what to do with them.

[chuckles] These are the exact kind of recipes you need, to kind of kick those lentils up into something that's very flavorful, and tasty.

- Yes, so some of the comments.

"Make these for your taco Tuesday get-together, even your most carnivore of carnivores will like them."

So I agree.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- For sure.

- Eat those lentils.

- Yeah.

[Tomás laughing] - Great lentil tacos, thank you, - Exactly.

- isachandra, for sending us this recipe.

And make sure to tag us on Facebook, check us out on Facebook, Instagram, all over social media.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

We have a magazine, that you can find in local grocery stores, Washington Grown is everywhere, so check us out.

[all chuckling] To get the recipe for lentil tacos, visit wagrown.com.

There's a lot of power packed behind those little plants, so eat your Washington legumes.

That's it for this episode of Washington Grown, we'll see you next time.