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Monday 13 June 2011

Curried Potato Salad

OK, OK, I know. This is practically Coronation chicken salad. But it's not. It has a twist. My twist. The curry powder is homemade, as is the mayonnaise (oooh, fancy). And I made it with a mix of sweet potatoes and new potatoes too.

Therefore I am entitled to claim the recipe... well not exactly, but I did make without referring to any other recipe. However, after I made the salad, I looked online out of curiosity, only to find tons of recipes that were similar. Dagnabit!! Well, I say, its not exactly the same, so I think I may be safe in posting this one up.

We love our potato salads in the house. Creamy, tangy, crunchy, with a kick of English mustard at the end. When the Daring Cooks decided that this month's challenge was going to be potato salad, I cheered. Because it ain't a challenge, its practically everyday food for us. The challenge was to find something different to do with it. My family are a bit stick-in-the-mud sometimes. Some things have to stay the same. Potato salad is one of them, as my original was MIL's recipe, and what Kay grew up with.

Curried Potato Salad (6)

Which reminds me of a kind of funny story. Now as we all know, wife cooking is never as good as mum cooking. Right? Yes, of course. Kay and I went camping with friends of ours. I made Kay's mum's potato salad recipe, and it turned out surprisingly good. One of our friends was in a cranky mood though (we call it surly!) and he grumbles 'but this does not taste like the one my mum makes'... to which Kay snaps back 'of course not, it tastes like my mum makes' :-) Boys boys, settle down now!

However, coming back to the potato salad! Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

Curried Potato Salad (4)

The first potato dish I tried out was my spicy roast potatoes, but then I felt they weren't 'salady' enough for this challenge. So I tried again, and this time I wanted to make the classic potato salad, but with an Indian twist. I remembered my mother-in-law making a delicious curry mayonnaise to go with her yam fries. So I thought, why not use that mayonnaise to make a dressing for a potato salad? MIL used Miracle Whip, but I wanted to play around with making my own mayonnaise to. I turned to Jamie Oliver, and he didn't disappoint with his yummy, tangy aioli recipe. After putting everything together, I was quite pleased with the version that I came up with, and fortunately it was well accepted in the house too. Phew!

Actually, this salad was pretty terrific. There was the heat and spice of the curry paste, the tanginess of the lime juice, the slight smokiness of black pepper, a very gentle hint of garlic, a slight savoury, salty taste, the yoghurt calmed everything down and the mayonnaise was just out of this world (thanks Jamie Oliver). The new potatoes absorbed the dressing beautifully, and the sweet potatoes were just a delight, as you bit into each one. It was pretty much a complete taste sensation.

We had it with Indian style veggie burgers (recipe coming soon) and a dry white wine (well, the adults had the wine) It doesn't do to stray too far from the classics, but what's life without a little daring, right?

Here's the recipe, enjoy! Oh, and aren't the chive flowers ever so pretty? The chives are from my own herb garden, and I am well pleased with them :-)

Curried Potato Salad (2)

Recipe:
(Printable Recipe)

1 - 2 large sweet potatoes, cubed
650 g new potatoes, scrubbed (peeled, if you wish) and halved
1 tbsp Madras Curry Powder (if using shop bought, use the mild variety)
1 tbsp vegetable or olive oil (don't use extra-virgin)
1 cup mayonnaise (or aioli, as Jamie calls it, don't add the lemon juice the recipe calls for, as you'll be adding lime juice to the dressing)
2 tsp lime juice + a little more if you like the salad tangy
1/2 cup plain fat free yoghurt
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
Fresh ground black pepper
Big handful fresh chives or (green) onions, snipped

Method:

Boil the sweet potatoes and the new potatoes separately until just tender. The reason for boiling them separately is that sweet potatoes cook faster than new potatoes, and you don't want them falling apart. Boiling separately takes care of the problem.

Let the potatoes cool completely.

In a small pan, heat the vegetable or olive oil, and add the Madras curry powder to it. It will be of a paste like consistency. Saute this for about 1 - 2 minutes, until the paste is fragrant. Take off the heat, and cool.

In a bowl, whisk together the the above curry paste, aioli or mayonnaise, lime juice, yoghurt, salt and pepper. Taste, and adjust the lime juice/ salt/ pepper to your taste.

Gently fold the potatoes into the dressing. Sprinkle over the chives or green onions to garnish. Enjoy as a delicious addition to a summer barbeque.

19 comments :

  1. That sounds lovely Michelle and it is a new style of potato salad to me.

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  2. I love coronation chicken but am not always so keen on mayonaise in potato salads. But, because of the way you've done this, I'd really like to try it.

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  3. I love coronation chicken but am not always so keen on mayonaise in potato salads. But, because of the way you've done this, I'd really like to try it.

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  4. Yum, love your potato salad. It looks deliciously refreshing!

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  5. Looks really yummy!
    Why did you stop short of sprinking the salad with the chive flowers? You have tasted the little petals by now, correct? You must love them!
    :)
    Valerie

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  6. Looks delicious! I'm adding it to the lists of potato salads I must try, which just keeps getting longer. :)

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  7. I love how you didn't use mustard. I LOVE curry. FANTASTIC JOB! =D

    www.cookinformycaptain.blogspot.com

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  8. Such a great idea to use sweet potato - adding extra goodness - the homemade mayo sounds fantastic - excellent recipe!
    Mary - so glad I'm following you!

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  9. Wow - you put a lot of work into this - and the result looks fab! (I'm a coronation chicken fan and also love sweet potatoes).

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  10. Oooh I have a little leftover mayonnaise that I made the other day - a curried potato OR chicken salad would be a good use for it! I just have to finish all the potato salad I already have :)

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  11. Jac, its delicious, you should really try it. Its also mild enough for Cooper (Aditi had some, and liked it), but you could probably reduce the curry powder a little bit if you'd like it milder.

    Corina, thanks and do let me know how it goes. The homemade mayo actually does make a big difference to the taste.

    ChefD, thanks. It was pretty good.

    Valerie, I did have the chive flowers in it when we actually ate it. I was pretty impressed with the taste, and will probably be using more of them soon. Imagine a pretty salad with nasturtiums and chive flowers... yum!

    Jo, me too... thanks to the Daring Cooks, I now have a mile long list of things to try :-)

    Thanks Carolyn, if you try it out, do let me know how it goes!

    Mary, thank you again! Yes, the sweet potatoes were really quite nice, I thought I may use yams next time... all that nice goodness for the (little and big) kids :-)

    Louise, thank you. I love coronation chicken too, its awesomely colonial isn't it. After all curry is Britain's national dish :-)

    Morgan, I'd imagine the dressing would work really well with a chicken salad too. I haven't tried it, but if you do, please let me know how it works! Thanks :-)

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  12. curried mayo! wow! never even heard of that but sounds delicious. and i also love the name of your blog :) thanks for the kind words you left on my site :)

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  13. ummm.. yeah, actually I make the best potato salad, but, you know, whatever - to each their own. ;-)

    I actually do put curry in mine sometimes but not quite in the same way. I'm definitely gonna give this one a try. Funny, I have a potato salad post in the queue! Took the photos last week.

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  14. Nags, thank you. You should try it out, I think you'll love it!

    Melissa :-) Isn't it weird how everyone thinks that their mum's cooking is the best!! I know I do. My best compliment was when my mum said some of my stuff was better than hers, talk about pride :-)) Looking forward to your salad. I love your stuff.

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  15. Your photos are gorgeous and I'm seething with jealousy. Maybe I'm oozing with envy. The point of this is, I can't take photos. You can. And I want to. Just like you! :-)

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  16. Ha ha Cathy, I don't think you have any need to be envious... I only take pics with a tiny point and shoot, and am lucky enough to have a south facing bay window :-) And good food, of course! And anyway, you trump me on writing, am insanely jealous of how funny your posts are!!

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  17. Hi Michelle! How are you, my friend? You know what you need? Your own Food show on TV! You are awesome! Homemade mayo with a curry twist in a potatoe salad? Fabulous. Great job

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  18. Your potato salad looks really good - I've got to try it. I've posted a link to your recipe under my own curried potato and pear salad recipe. Do take a look when you have a chance.
    https://cook2jhoom.wordpress.com/2012/06/27/potato-and-pear-salad-with-a-curry-honey-mustard-dressing/
    Best wishes, Cheeku Bhasin

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  19. This is a great compliment to any BBQ item

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