Soviet Snacks and Spring Rolls

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About this episode

Before she was a Top Chef champion, Chef Zuliya “Zuzu” Khawaja spent 16 years in high finance. But her story starts much earlier, in a Central Asian kitchen, learning at the elbows of her grandmother and aunties, and with one pot of soup she made at seven in an act of care. In this episode, Chef Claudia Sandoval and Zuzu dig into the childhood dish that made vegetables the star of her table, and a centuries-old tradition where women cook through the night, with a few “magical” rocks in the pot. They also get into the career leap that had her dad asking questions, what it took to win Top Chef Amateurs as a plant-based chef, what people don't understand about vegan cooking, and a dish that…