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

[light music] - On this special season of "Washington Grown", we're following Washington produce around the world.

Here we go.

- I mean there is just stuff happening everywhere.

- Breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

- Breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

[Kristi laughs] I'm doing all the work over here.

- That's a Tomás deluxe.

All good things are better shared right?

- Cheers my friend.

- Cheers.

[Val laughs] - I can't even walk.

Hot diggity dog!

- We got a lot to explore and a lot to do.

So let's get to it.

- To Washington.

- To Washington.

- Washington.

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

Whether it's potatoes in English, papas in Spanish, or khoai tây in Vietnamese, Washington grown potatoes are delicious.

Today we're exploring the many different ways you can use them in all kinds of dishes.

I'm learning what kinds of potatoes are best to make potato chips.

- We don't want like a massive potato chip in a bag where it's like, whoa, I can't get that in my mouth.

- Although that might be kind of fun.

- Yeah.

- And I'm making Malaysian curry at Reunion Malaysian Cafe and Kitchen in Seattle.

- Ooh, there's a kick to it, though.

- Yep, just a little bit.

[laughing] You can handle it.

- I can handle it.

Then I'm cooking a special potato dish with a five star chef in Mexico City.

- I'm personally a fan from the Seahawks in Washington, so- - Go Hawks.

- Yeah, go Hawks.

- All this and more today on Washington Grown.

Right here in the heart of Kirkland, there's a little restaurant bringing huge flavors to the table.

Reunion Malaysian Cafe is giving guests a special experience of Malaysian culture through food.

Although the aromatic spices and delectable dishes are the reason to walk through the door, the reason to stay is more about the family you'll find inside.

- Well, I love the people who work here.

They're very nice.

- So you don't feel like an average client.

You feel like you're family.

- They're just wonderful people, and customer service is great and always very welcoming.

- So you are a regular here?

- Yes, most every day.

[laughs] Every time I come here, I say, "Boss, I'm hungry."

He just make my food.

- Reunion is essentially, it's the gathering for everyone.

Have great food and have great conversation.

That's all Reunion is all about.

- Owner and chef Robert Tju feels blessed to live in Washington because of all the amazing produce grown right here.

To him, fresh fruits and vegetables are the perfect complement to the unique Malaysian flavors he loves.

- We use a lot of Washington produce and fruits throughout the year.

Cherries and berries during the summer, and then during the fall time, you get apples and pears.

- Yeah.

- You get your shallots, your onions, your potato especially.

It's good for all our dishes.

- Don't miss later in the show when Chef Robert and I make Reunion's special Malaysian vegetable potato curry.

I could eat this all day.

[bright music] The best way to watch Washington Grown is to get in your comfy pajamas and snuggle up with a big bag of potato chips.

But where do these chips come from and how do they go from spud to our favorite salty snack?

Today I'm meeting up with Derek Davenport of Allied Potatoes to find out how the magic happens.

- Our potatoes are used for chip processing, so all your potato chips that we ship to, of course Frito-Lay and Kettle, and we also export quite a few of our potatoes overseas, whether it's Asia or Central America.

- So just potato chips everywhere.

- Yeah.

Good quality potatoes are easy to sell.

- What makes a good chipper potato?

- The low sugar content, good quality.

The roundness and the size, the fry-ability, the color.

All those things are great for being fried into a chip, made into a french fry, mashed potatoes, however they wanna cook the potato.

- Next Derek took me to the processing facility where chipping potatoes are cleaned and sent to the processors to be made into chips.

- The truck is unloading outside.

They go through the washing process, clean all the soil off.

By the time they get to here, they're looking for any maybe rocks from the field, maybe any potatoes that are broken or defected, and they're pulling those out and they're thrown in these other bins and all the good potatoes are gonna go this way and they'll get shipped off to the plants to be processed into potato chips.

- Awesome.

Do you have any idea about how many potatoes come through your facility on a daily basis?

- A lot.

So a semi-load is about 25 to 30 tons.

- Okay.

- And we can run 25 to 30 semis through here in a day.

- Wow.

- That's a lot of potatoes.

- Yeah.

Does size matter with chipping potatoes?

- It does, yeah.

You don't want a large potato in a chip bag.

You want something within a medium-size range where a person can eat a size of a chip.

- Yeah, fit in your mouth, yeah.

- We don't want a massive potato chip in a bag where it's like, whoa, I can't get that in my mouth.

- Although might be kind of fun, one time.

- Yeah.

Sometimes the potatoes can get a little bit large and we peel off the bigger potatoes and those go to food distribution centers where they'll get made into, restaurant business, they'll make 'em into mashed potatoes, french fries, or whatever, that side of things.

- So no potato goes to waste.

- No potato goes to waste, exactly.

This is our quality control lab.

- Okay.

- We'll cut 'em open.

We'll fry them in here.

So basically, we can't see it right now, but there's a certain amount of sugars within these potatoes.

Too much of sugars will cause a dark fry and the lower the sugar content will show a good white fry.

So that's exactly what we're looking for.

- That's what you want.

- We'll try and reenact basically how that processing plant will fry them up.

- Sure.

- Only thing here is we don't get to put 'em in a fancy bag and have all the good flavors that they have.

- Yeah.

[potato chip crunches] - Still a little hot.

- You think?

- Yeah.

- You know when they say you, once you start, you can't stop.

- Yes.

- Yum.

- Now what are the chances that if I buy a bag of chips, that it's from Washington potatoes?

- I would say in the realm in the 90%, not just from our farm, but there's other chip growers within Washington state that ship to these plants as well.

And so the odds are very, very high that you're getting local potatoes in these bag of chips.

- That's what we love.

[upbeat music] - The culinary scene here in Mexico offers a wide range of different tastes.

From street tacos to fusion, all the way to fancy food.

The key to good grub lies in the ingredients.

Today we're working with Chef Diego Sabrino to learn how Washington products are taking Mexican fine dining to the next level.

I'm here with Chef Diego and we're at the beautiful Sky Bar in Mexico City.

And this is at the hotel that you have several different restaurants, right?

- Right.

We're in the Mondrian Condesa, A brand new hotel here in Mexico City.

We're gonna make a thousand leaves of potatoes, then we- - A thousand, is that gonna take a while?

- Yeah.

A thousand.

We're gonna use- - A thousand.

- We have a hundred kilos in the back.

- Okay, okay.

- No.

So we don't build up like a little tower.

We're gonna bake it into the oven and in the top of it we will put some beef tartare.

- While I peel some Washington grown russet potatoes, Chef Diego chops some rosemary.

We add the rosemary to a bowl with some olive oil and Parmesan cheese.

Then we slice the potatoes super thin.

- Actually, here in Mexico, we use a lot of American potato because we don't have beautiful potatoes here.

They have a lot of water into it.

- Oh yeah.

So to fry it, to make a beautiful puree, it's quite difficult.

- We add the potatoes into the bowl, add some salt, and mix it up.

Next we stack the thin layers high, making sure to add cheese between each layer before finally putting it in the oven for 20 minutes.

- In the meantime, what we are gonna do, we're gonna build our beef tartare.

- And you're incorporating apple into this.

- Of course.

We're gonna give the freshness of the plate with apple and the acidity of the granny smith is gonna be a perfect match together.

Actually in Mexico, I think all the green granny smiths that we get and the gala that we get come from Washington.

- Yeah.

- Since I'm a child, I remember that.

Yeah.

- Since you were a child.

Really?

- Yeah.

I think that's how I knew that it was a state in the States, named Washington because of the apples.

- Washington because of the apples.

- Yeah and personally a fan from the Seahawks in Washington, so.

- [laughing] Go hawks.

- Yeah, go hawks.

- Go hawks.

We finely chopped some Persian cucumber, red onion, granny smith apples, green olives and chives and add them to the beef.

Next we add some egg yolks, cured in soy sauce, some Dijon mustard and thinly sliced chili pepper.

By that point, our potatoes have finished baking.

Aha.

Wow.

- This is how, look at this, crispy and you can feel it soft in the inside.

- Looks so good.

- If you have good ingredients, then the rest is easy to do.

- With that, there's nothing left to do, but eat.

And who better to eat with than the Director of Washington Agriculture, Derek Sandison.

His efforts make sure fresh Washington food can be exported to Mexico.

It's not gonna be graceful.

I can already tell.

That was pretty incredible.

It's salty and tangy and crispy.

- And then some heat at the end.

- You feel the serrano and the surround.

You feel a little bit the hot of it, but then the apple and the sugary helps to make it a smooth dance.

- Oh, that's so good.

And the potatoes, that's easy to do.

- That's really easy.

You can do it anytime at home.

- Yeah.

- Everything's in the product.

Right?

- Mhm.

Exactly.

Yeah.

- I think we should have a little toast.

Thank you Chef Diego.

- Thank you guys.

- Thank you.

- To Washington.

- To Washington.

- Washington.

- Coming up, I'm making Malaysian curry at Reunion Malaysian cafe and kitchen in Seattle.

- Ooh.

There's a kick to it though.

- Yep.

Just a little bit.

You can handle it.

- I can handle it.

[lively music] - We are back at Reunion Malaysian cafe in Kirkland.

Although many guests may walk in with very little knowledge about Malaysian tastes and dishes, they always leave with a full belly, a big smile, and a plan to come back hungry to try more.

- I refer all my clients here and they're all like, hey, what's that?

What's Malaysian?

So everyone that has come here and tried it, they all like are a big fan of the place.

- If you're just looking to get a try of Malaysian food, this is the place to come to.

- Malaysian food is a fusion of many influences.

Like the Malays, the Chinese, the Indians, and other indigenous group.

- Owner and chef Robert Tju loves Malaysian cuisine because of its unique place in the history of Asia.

He and his wife want to allow their guests to experience Malaysian culture through their menu.

- People came from many regions in the world to Malaysia.

So with the spice root, you get all the spices and you get the blend of locals mixing their own concoction of spices.

And there you go.

You got Malaysian cuisine.

- There you go.

- Yeah.

It reflects the cultural heritage of Malaysia and it's diverse people.

- I love that.

- So come try it, you know?

You'll like it.

- The food is amazing.

A great family that owns it.

- Fresh and healthy and delicious.

- I haven't tried everything on the menu quite yet, so.

I'll get there though.

- What are you and I gonna make today?

- We are gonna make the Malaysian vegetable curry today.

- Okay.

Does it have potatoes in it.

- Potatoes, bright, beautiful, and delicious.

- Awesome.

[laughing] - Why russet potatoes for this?

- It's creamy.

It's great.

And it's got a very good texture to it.

- The texture.

Texture is everything.

- Everything.

- With curry, right?

- With curry, right.

- Okay.

We start by sautéing some red onions, shallots, garlic, and ginger.

So we have Washington potatoes.

Are there other Washington ingredients that we're working with today?

- Actually, these are all from Washington.

- Really?

- Yep.

- That's awesome.

- Yep.

- So this is considered like one of the true - Malaysian dish.

- Malaysian dish.

- Yeah.

Your everyday go-to meal.

- That's what this is.

Okay.

So it's just something that you would eat every day though?

- Everyday.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

- Really?

The real flavor of the dish comes in the spices and let me tell you, there are a whole lot of spices.

There was toasted cumin, cardamom, cloves, coriander seed bay leaves, curry powder, ginger powder, salt, turmeric, and cayenne powder.

- Oh, that was a lot of cayenne you put in there, no?

- Just a little.

- Just a little?

Okay.

- This is our special and very secret ingredient.

- Yes.

Tell me about this.

- This is our homemade curry paste.

Yeah.

Smells wonderful, right?

- It does.

It smells really light.

Can really smell the lemongrass.

- Lemongrass.

Yeah.

You can smell it.

It's all coming together.

- [coughs] Little bit of cayenne.

Yeah, it's hitting me.

- Okay, now it's your turn.

Pretty simple at this point.

- I know.

Well that's good.

Simple is good.

We add some vegetable broth, bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes.

And finally the potatoes.

This is my kind of dish.

- Breakfast, lunch or dinner.

- Breakfast, lunch or dinner.

We let the curry simmer for 15 minutes, then finish it off with some coconut milk.

You brought out a couple of different types of bread.

So explain what these are.

- These are the garlic naan bread - Garlic naan.

- And we have the roti canai right there.

It's a crispy flatbread, almost croissant-like.

- Look at all those great vegetables.

[upbeat music] - Careful.

It's gonna go all over.

It's delicious, isn't it?

- Mhm.

Ooh.

There's a kick to it though.

- Yep.

Just a little bit.

You can handle it.

- I can handle it.

I can handle it.

It's so good.

Spicy, creamy.

I love how the potatoes just kind of absorb the beautiful color and the flavor.

- From the turmeric, from the peppers.

- But this is like buttery.

- Crispy.

Yeah, crispy, buttery.

It's got that honeycomb layer in between.

- Oh my God.

- I could eat this all day.

I feel warm inside.

And happy.

To get the recipe for this Malaysian vegetable potato curry.

Go to wagrown.com.

Coming up, I'm in Vietnam trying out some delicious Washington fries.

- 1, 2, 3, cheers.

- And we're in The Kitchen at Second Harvest trying Chef Laurent's Orange Sesame Glazed Potatoes.

[bright music] [upbeat music] - Here in Vietnam, products are sold in many different ways.

Now.

while it's easy to think that all Vietnamese shoppers go to outdoor markets, that's actually not the case.

That's why today I'm in Mega Mart in Ho Chi Minh city, talking to a very familiar face.

Alright everybody.

It has been 10 years on Washington Grown and I've never had the opportunity to interview Mr. Chris Voigt from the Potato Commission.

So I had to come and follow him all the way to Vietnam in order to make it happen.

- Exactly.

- Welcome to Vietnam.

I know.

- Welcome to Washington potatoes.

- It's totally cool to come into a big store like this and to see the state of Washington represented all over this place.

And how cool is it to walk in and see our potatoes on display?

- Oh, I know.

And Vietnam is such a cool country.

I mean it's such a spectrum of everything from, you know, supermarkets like we're here, to the wet markets.

And being able to see our products there in both places is pretty fascinating.

- So how do these potatoes even get here in the first place?

- Right.

Well, you start out in Skagit Valley, this is double in potatoes.

And it's an interesting story because Jerry, who's the farmer who grew these potatoes that I'm holding right here, actually served in the war in Vietnam and now he's selling his potatoes here.

He thinks that's pretty cool.

So these potatoes started in Washington state.

We tracked them down like from Mount Vernon to the ports of Tacoma is actually where it got onto a ship there.

Went straight to, I think Singapore and offloaded in Singapore, got put onto a smaller ship and came here to Ho Chi Minh City.

This was in cold storage there.

Went to the distributor.

Tony Fruit's, the name of the company and they make the rounds and distribute it to the grocery store here.

So it's quite a journey.

Like 7500 miles.

- Hi, I'm Paul.

I'm the head organizer for MM Vietnam.

- Paul makes sure everything at Mega Mart is clean, fresh, and in stock.

As a customer service worker, his biggest joy is serving the shoppers.

- I've been here since 2010.

That is about 12 years.

- 12 years.

- 12 years in this business.

- So you like your job, right?

- Oh, of course.

I love it.

- Why do you love it so much?

- It's always in the front line of consumer.

- Right?

- You serve customer.

That's what I love to do.

- Do you like Washington apples?

- Yes.

Yes.

We love Washington apple.

- Are they a big seller here?

- Big seller.

Big seller.

Daily an apple keep the doctor away.

- I like that.

You're right.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

What about the Washington potatoes?

Are those pretty good too?

- Oh yes.

That is in growing trend, it's been a good growing trend.

Beside our own Vietnam potato.

US potato is also the choice for Vietnamese.

- Now Vietnam actually grows potatoes.

But they can only grow roughly about 50% of what they consume.

So they have to import food from other countries.

And so that's an opportunity for us to really kind of bring, you know, these really vibrant reds and purples and yellow potatoes where that's not necessarily the case here.

I mean, if you were to showcase them side by side, you could definitely tell which one's from Washington state and which ones were from Vietnam.

- How does it make you feel to come into a country like Vietnam and to see Washington potatoes and the logo all over the place?

- Yeah.

You know, there's kind of a sense of pride, right?

Seeing Washington potatoes here.

I mean, I'm used to seeing 'em in Washington grocery stores, right?

Washington state.

Coming to Vietnam or Singapore or Taiwan.

And to see our potatoes on the shelves.

It's pretty cool.

It makes me really proud of our farmers back home.

You guys are doing a great job getting products all over the world and I can't wait to see what country we end up in next for my next interview with you.

[laughing] - I know.

Let's shoot for somewhere like tropical.

- I love it, Chris, thank you so much.

- Tomás, great seeing you buddy.

- Whether shopping at a store like Mega Mart or a more traditional wet market, one thing is clear, Vietnamese consumers care about getting fresh, high quality products.

And as more and more shoppers move away from outdoor markets and into stores, it's easier than ever for amazing Washington products to get into the hands of customers.

- My name is Chi and I'm the head of marketing at Le Square.

- Le Square focuses on high-end products for its customers.

Every single item has been quality tested so that shoppers know anything they get is going to be great.

- We have, you know, selected products coming from France, Italy, the US, New Zealand and other countries, and also some very unique Vietnamese product are being selected and to distribute here in the store.

- I see.

So you're very picky though about what you choose to bring into the store.

It's very high end.

- It's actually, it's quite high end.

We aim to high-end quality product, everything quite going through a lot of process in order to pick the most or the best products to sell to end consumer.

- Hello, my name is Ti.

Currently I'm in the marketing department at the New Viet Dairy.

- New Viet Dairy is an importer and distributor here in Ho Chi Minh city.

They put all sorts of products onto shelves in Vietnam and one item you might recognize is these Washington grown french fries.

- When talking about the frozen french fry the people think of the Lamb Weston fries with a very nice appearance.

It the crispy outside.

and on the inside, there's a lot of starch.

We are working with many supplier around the world, around 30 country.

- Oh, wow.

- Yes and we distribute to the more than 6,000 actually customer nationwide.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Well, we're honored that Washington potatoes are here in your store.

- When talking about quality, people still will choose the Lamb Weston products.

- Of course, I'd never doubt Washington fries, but just in case, we had to do a taste test, purely for science, of course.

Not because I wanted to eat some fries.

- Hello, here we are.

- Oh, thank you.

- These look delicious.

- Yeah.

Smell very good.

- Yes, I will.

- Nice and crispy on the outside.

And nice and fluffy on the inside.

- Mhm, it's very long.

- That's a very long one.

Yeah.

[laughing] How do you like to eat fries?

- We like this kind of thickness because the people here, they used to eat very thin ones, but when they comes to Le Square, they have a thicker one and it does make it very special.

Young customer love this.

- Right, right.

These are great, just like home.

- 1, 2, 3, - Cheer.

[laughing] - Love it.

- I love it too.

[upbeat music] - We are in The Kitchen at Second Harvest here in Spokane, and I am joined by my wonderful tasters, Chef Laurent Zirotti and Tomás Guzmán.

- Hello.

Here we are again.

- I know.

In Second Harvest, and this is actually like their teaching kitchen and you have taught some classes here.

- Yes, exactly.

Few years ago, yes.

- They bring folks in who beautiful may not know exactly how to use the food that they're receiving from Second Harvest and it just shows them, you know, how to make good roasted potato or- - Perishable food.

- Yeah.

- How you can use it.

- Absolutely.

- And it's a staple.

I mean, potatoes are so limitless.

We could do anything we want with 'em, whether it's sweet or savory.

It's an incredible ingredient.

- In this episode we are looking at something very common now in household, we decided to do a recipe with an air fryer - Okay.

- Oh.

- I do have an air fryer.

- I do as well.

Yeah.

- I told, you see?

- We use it often.

Yeah.

- All the time.

For two, it's the best oven you can buy, I think.

We those potatoes to make them a little crispier than regular and we are going to toss them with a beautiful sauce that you can use for other things.

If you don't want that recipe, that's fine.

Just use the potatoes as potatoes, mix them with garlic or whatever you want, whatever you like.

- Oh yes.

- Nice.

- And you can use the sauce for fish, for anything else.

Cooked chicken or, so I always think, you know, beyond the recipe, - Well, crispy potatoes are one of my favorite things in the entire world.

That is the truth.

So I can't wait to see how we make 'em.

- Let's do it.

[upbeat acoustic guitar music] - This is not what I expected.

I didn't realize it was like an Asian inspired potato dish.

- It is.

Orange soy sesame glaze.

Yeah.

And that's why you can use it for something else.

Little bit of of spice but not too much.

- But it has a good, a good tang to it.

- Yeah.

It's got a nice little bite.

And that orange comes through too.

It's very fragrant.

- We always think about rice, huh?

When we eat Asian with, which is, you know, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, all think about rice but they do cook potatoes.

A lot of potatoes, you saw that in Vietnam.

- Yeah, exactly.

These are delicious.

I could, I can even see you throwing in pineapple in this.

- Green, some green onions.

- Yeah sure, green onions.

- Awesome, well thank you, Laurent.

- You're very welcome.

- Yeah, it's very nice.

- Really fun to try it, yes and if you wanna try it, you can only find these recipes on wagrown.com.

Yes as developed by Chef Laurent.

So check it out.

It's good stuff.

- Make some of your own.

- If it's not good, blame it on me.

[laughing] - But it's gonna be good.

- Right.

It's gonna be good.

- To get the recipe for Chef Laurent Zirotti's Orange Sesame Glazed Potatoes, visit us at wagrown.com.

- In curry, poutine or just baked with butter, there are so many ways to enjoy Washington grown potatoes.

That's it for this episode of Washington Grown.

We'll see you next time.