Hello!
Hi!
Today, I'm going to try to make a vegan burrito bowl at home that's better than
Chipotle's. And later we're gonna head over to my parents house for a
special little taste test to see how my version stacks up against the original.
You don't have to hold me the whole time [laughter]
Just got to Chipotle, about to do some serious scientific taste testing.
Also, I haven't eaten lunch yet.
Can
I please get a burrito bowl with white rice?
Sofritas, please. The corn salsa and the tomato salsa.
Whoo. I tried to film at Chipotle. It was so loud. Impossibly loud.
[Various loud noises].
So here I am at home. Outside my home. Eating Chipotle.
Let me walk you through the Chipotle burrito bowl that I got that is now very messy.
I start with the white rice as the base. I think it's pretty good.
For the protein, sofritas. That's the tofu seasoned
with spices. I love that it exists but it's not my favorite. Sorry.
It's too tangy and too bitter for my taste.
Black beans, mostly for extra protein. They're nothing special, they're just beans.
For some veggie action, I get the fajita veggies. And for the salsas, I get three of
the four different options: the corn salsa, which is my favorite for the sweetness,
tomato salsa for the freshness factor, and the green medium salsa for a little bit of heat.
Finally as you can see I get a big nice mound of guacamole. I know it's extra but a Chipotle
Bowl really just isn't as delicious or as complete in flavors without it.
Let's try a little bite.
Overall, I give it a six maybe a six and a half out of ten. Considering it's fast food, it's
pretty good. But I think we can do a lot better. Like a lot, a lot better. So let's head inside.
I'm gonna start by making our sofritas. And I wanted to stick to Chipotle's list
of ingredients as closely as possible but I also know we can make some flavor improvements,
so that's going to be my approach today. The first ingredient we'll start with is
our poblano pepper, which is a mild Mexican chili pepper.
The best way to get the most flavor out of this is to char it all over. Now,
you could brush the pepper with a bit of oil and pop it under your broiler for five to six minutes,
but for an even smokier flavor I'm gonna chart on my gas stove over high heat. It
takes about four minutes and you want to make sure to turn the pepper every minute or so.
Now for our aromatics we've got some classic Mexican staples; one medium onion,
four garlic cloves, two Roma tomatoes, and a chipotle pepper in adobo sauce,
plus a half tablespoon of the Adobo sauce. And, of course, we need some spices for our sofritas
so I'm starting with some ground cumin. Also got some Mexican oregano. If you only have regular
oregano at home that is totally fine. I just have this gigantic bag that I need to get through.
Also some ancho chili powder. Chipotle actually doesn't use chili powder in its sofritas recipe,
but like I said, I kind of wanted to add a few flavor tweaks where I thought it would
improve the recipe. Oh, and two tablespoons of tomato paste for that savory umami backbone.
[Nisha makes bloop bloop sound]
That's the sound of the tomato paste.
[Nisha makes bloop bloop sound again]
And now for our main ingredient, the tofu. Chipotle actually makes its own tofu with
their own soybeans so they're able to get a really meaty chewy texture, much more so than
the kind of extra firm tofu that we typically buy at the grocery store. So my workaround is to use
super firm or high protein tofu. And this stuff has almost all of the water pressed out of it,
so it is able to get that chewier meatier texture which is great when you're trying
to mimic the texture of meat. Now that the tofu is waterless, it's time to crumble it. Chipotle
crumbles their tofu pretty finely so I'm trying to do that here as well. You don't want it to
be tiny but definitely smaller than if you were making, for example, a tofu scramble. I've got a
large frying pan over medium-high heat with a bit of oil and once that pan is nice and hot,
it's time for the onions. Season with a pinch of salt and these need about five minutes.
In goes the garlic, spices and tomato paste for a minute.
And then our tomatoes. You want to cook those until they soften about four to five minutes.
Transfer this mixture to a blender along with the charred poblano pepper from earlier,
the Chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, a bit of red wine vinegar for tang, and a half cup of water.
And normally, I would cook the tofu at the same time as the aromatics in a separate pan to save
some time, but I only have one of these portable stove thingies, so let's cook the tofu now. Medium
high heat, a large frying pan, and I like to let it hang out undisturbed for two to three minutes
to help it get brown and a little crispy, which is going to improve the texture. And it needs
about 12 minutes total until it looks like it's this gorgeous golden brown. Last thing,
I'm going to add in the Chipotle tomato sauce I just blended. I'm going to simmer this for
about 10 minutes. It's going to start to thicken quite a bit about five minutes in,
so I'm going to lower the heat so it doesn't burn our sofritas. Smells sooo good. And the
last step is to just hit it with a little bit of lime juice. This is going to kind
of brighten everything up. And a tiny pinch of salt just to bring out all the other flavors.
It's so good. It's smoky, it's a little tangy, it's a little spicy and honestly,
just this over rice would be a great meal. But if you are allergic to soy or just don't want
to make this sofritas for some reason, you can make these saucy Mexican black beans.
They are delicious, they are super easy, and they would be perfect for this burrito bowl.
These black beans also start off with some very simple aromatics and spices: a small red onion
diced up, four cloves of garlic, half teaspoon of red pepper flakes, a half tablespoon of oregano,
and a half teaspoon of cumin. I've got a frying pan over medium heat with a couple tablespoons
of oil and the onions need five to seven minutes to soften and get just a little color on them.
Garlic and spices need about two minutes but make sure to stir frequently so they don't burn.
I'm adding a 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes but if you've got good quality tomatoes definitely
add those. You can use a pound of fresh chopped tomatoes. Keep this at a rapid simmer for 10 to 15
minutes. And once the tomatoes have thickened up and the liquid has evaporated, you'll season with
some salt and pepper. Now, I'm adding two cans of black beans including the liquid. Don't worry,
the liquid is safe to eat, it's just the liquid the beans were cooked in. And this is actually the
secret to super saucy, creamy beans. Because the liquid is quite starchy and I'm going to simmer
everything together for 15 minutes, our beans are nice and saucy. And the way I like to finish them,
for a little richness because there's really no fat in canned beans, I'm going to add some olive
oil. Just like a nice little glug. Oops, a little messy. Some lime juice for that
kind of tangy brightness. A little acidity always brightens things up. And, of course, some chopped
cilantro. If you're making Mexican food, we gotta have cilantro. Time to give it a little taste.
hot................... hot
Let's try that again.
The simplest ingredients and it is excellent. So again, if you can't make the sofritas,
this is another great option. If you want to make both, go ahead and do that, too.
All right we've got our protein options and now we need to make the rice,
because you can't have a burrito bowl without some rice. I like using jasmine rice because
it is super quick cooking. It takes like seven minutes on the stove. I know everyone has their
own method of making rice, this is just what I do. First, I start by rinsing the rice. Because,
I'm Indian. If I don't rinse the rice, pretty sure I'll lose my Indian membership and my parents will
never respect me. So gotta rinse the rice. Then, I like to agitate the rice with my hands for about a
minute. And this actually helps to remove more of the excess starch so that the grains don't stick
together and gelatinize when they're hot. I'm using the absorption method so you don't need too
much water. A cup and a half of room temperature water for a cup of rice. Season with some salt,
a bay leaf, and just a teaspoon of olive oil, which adds moisture and improves the texture
and flavor. Once it's boiling, simmer covered for just seven minutes. You can take a peek
to make sure it's simmering and not boiling, but don't stir the rice. The water has been absorbed,
so now I let the rice steam covered for 10 minutes. And one technique I learned for
fluffy rice is to drape a dish towel on top of the pot so the condensation from the lid doesn't
drip down into the rice and make it soggy. Time to fluff the rice. And now for our flavoring,
the zest of a medium lime for the aromatic lime flavor, as well as some lime juice,
about a tablespoon and a half. Chipotle also adds lemon juice, so I'm adding a half tablespoon here.
Add another teaspoon of olive oil if you want a little extra richness and moisture,
and a generous amount of chopped cilantro. Some salt to season and that's it. It's
perfectly cooked. If you have a rice cooker or an instant pot that you prefer to use to cook rice,
totally fine, go ahead and do that. But don't skip the lime zest and the lime juice and the
cilantro and the olive oil, they really add a lot of flavor and a tiny bit of richness to the rice.
Now for the fajita vegetables. These are so simple you can do them in your sleep. JUST
KIDDING! Don't do that, you're going to burn down your house. Make sure you're awake for this. You
will need a large bell pepper and remove the core like so, and slice it into strips. If
you watch my channel you probably already know that I think green bell peppers are the worst.
[Montage of Nisha complaining about green bell peppers].
But Chipotle uses them in their fajita veggies so that is what we're using today. And if I'm being
honest, when they're cooked down with onions, and then you add all those other delicious flavors,
they're not so bad. I can't believe I said that, but they're not so bad. I also need a red onion
thinly sliced into rings. Chipotle uses oregano in their fajita veggies. I happen to have fresh
oregano at home today. I'm gonna chop up a half tablespoon of that but you can easily use a half
teaspoon of dried oregano instead. A little bit of avocado oil or whatever cooking oil you like.
Medium high heat and a large frying pan. Once the oil is shimmering, add in the peppers, onions,
oregano, and a half teaspoon of kosher salt. Let's crack in some black pepper,
why not? Toss this occasionally but not too often. Seven to eight minutes if you
like them crisp tender. But I like them more caramelized so a few extra minutes for me.
I know I showed you that I get three different salsas at Chipotle but ain't nobody got time
to make three salsas. I'm gonna make one salsa instead and it's gonna combine all the three
components I love about chipotle's salsas. We're gonna get the freshness, the sweetness,
and the spiciness. So we'll start with a pico de gallo, which is the fresh tomato salsa
factor. We'll add in some charred corn for the sweetness. And I'm gonna make the salsa fairly
spicy so we also get in that heat. I've got 12 ounces of tomatoes that I'm finely chopping,
no big chunks please. Tomatoes are watery, though, so I'm going to salt them to dry
out some of that excess water and also to flavor them. These can hang out and do their
thing while everything else gets prepped. But first clean up your counter, don't be a filthy
animal. Now for some heat I'd say a jalapeno is good for most folks, but again my family
likes things spiiiicy so I'm using a serrano pepper. Dice about half of a small red onion,
squeeze on a generous amount of lime on both of these. A big juicy lime and sprinkle on some salt.
Let this rest for 10 minutes and it's gonna mellow out the intensity of the raw onion and the pepper.
While that magic is happening I'm gonna grab our corn. And to shave the core, I position a small
ramekin upside down in a large bowl. Slice off the bottom of the cob to create a flat surface and run
a sharp paring knife downwards to shave off the kernels. And this way they conveniently land into
the bowl without making a big mess. We are blessed in California to have a long corn season but,
if it's not fresh corn season for you, use about two cups of frozen defrosted corn.
And to make the corn nice and roasty I like to char it in a cast iron skillet over medium-high
heat. Add the corn kernels undisturbed for a few minutes so they can get some char,
then stir and let them cook undisturbed again for a few minutes and repeat this cycle for 10
to 12 minutes. Little pinch of salt at the end to bring out the corn sweetness. Now it's time
to marry everything together. Tomatoes go in with the macerated onion mixture, but drain the
liquid first so the salsa isn't watery. Grate a fat garlic clove in there for some flavor,
a big handful of chopped cilantro, some black pepper. Add in the charred corn. It smell
feels so freaking good and the flavors will be even better after it rests for like 10 minutes.
Y'all, that is a freaking great salsa and if you have leftovers you definitely should pair them
with some tortilla chips because that would be amazing. One second. Ah, we have tortilla chips!
Don't mind if I do!
Last but not least, the guac. I have a feeling this bowl won't really need
the guac in the same way that I think the chipotle bowl needs it because there's going
to be so many layers of fresh flavor, but on the other hand it also takes like three
minutes to make a quick and dirty guacamole so that's what we're gonna do right now.
And now it's time
to build this glorious burrito bowl. Cilantro lime rice on the bottom, some sofritas, the black
beans, peppers and onions, the corn tomato salsa, and of course a big amount of guacamole. All
right, so the time has come, finally I get to eat everything together! So excited, looks so good!
Get some beans, sofritas, this is like the happiest day of my life
Wow, there is a lot of flavor, it's so good. I really don't have anything else to say but the
real test is whether my picky parents like it so let's head over there and see what they think.
As usual it took a while before we could actually get to the taste test.
[Neela makes weird loving robot sounds]
You don't have to hold me the whole time. No, just put your hands here. Are you ready?
Was there anything else you want--- What? Wait one second. Welcome to our taste test.
These are my parents. Please introduce yourselves.
Mom and Dad, yes, that's correct.
Everybody, you know their names, you know their relationship to me.
Do you guys ever eat Chipotle?
I just went to one 10 minutes away from your house
Do you guys eat fast food often?
Which places do you occasionally eat at?
There's no Indian fast food in America!
All right so today I have prepared a Chipotle copycat burrito bowl and
we're also gonna have you taste alongside the classic Chipotle vegan burrito bowl. All right,
please have a bite of bowl number one, let me know your thoughts.
Or two!
You gotta get to work, he's already going!
The world's slowest eater.
So we're done with this one right? Okay so we switch the bowl. All right please,
have a bite or two of bowl number two. And try to get a bite of everything.
You can have as much as you want. Do you have any thoughts?
Ah, Chipotle, you need more Masala.
Can you tell what that is?
It's tofu.
Do you like it?
Now that you know it's not chicken.
Why would I serve you chicken? I'm vegan.
Is it spicy enough for you? Because I sliced some chili peppers.
Ahh, now that's a burrito bowl!
So, if you had had to grade the first bowl you ate, what grade would you give it?
It's not that bad is it?
Well, folks, you've heard it here; you gotta make an Indian style Chipotle burrito bowl
to win over my parents. But for the rest of you, these bowls are super delicious,
you can find the recipes linked In the description box below. Thank you for watching,
thanks to my parents for joining us, and we'll see you guys later! Byeeeee.