Japanese Potato Salad
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Makes a very large bowl (enough to bring to a party)
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes plus cooling time for potatoes and eggs
- 3 potatoes (I used Golden Delight potatoes around 750g/26.5oz)
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 carrot, finely julienned
- 1/2 Lebanese cucumber, very thinly sliced
- 1 medium sized brown onion, peeled and finely diced
- 3/4-1 cup Kewpie mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1/2 - 3/4 tablespoon white sugar
- Salt and black pepper
Step 1 - Boil the potatoes, skin on in a saucepan filled with water until they are tender. You should be able to stick a knife or skewer into them easily. You don't want firm potatoes, you want to be able to mash them. Remove the potatoes from the pan and add the eggs into the same pan and boil for 5 minutes. Add the julienned carrots in for 1 minute. Cool the potatoes, eggs and carrot completely (you can do this the day before and refrigerate them).
Step 2 - Slip off the skins from the potatoes, they should come off easily. Slice the potatoes into cubes - don't worry if pieces are too soft, you will end up mashing most of the potato. Dice the eggs and have the rest of the ingredients ready.
Step 3 - Using a masher, mash most of the potato. I mash about 75%-85% of it (without getting weird and measuring percentages). Japanese potato salad has a very soft texture with only small bits of potato in it. Mix in the other carrot, egg, onion and cucumber along with the mayonnaise. Then season the potato salad-this is the important bit. Add the rice vinegar, then sprinkle some of the sugar and salt and pepper over and mix. I do it in three lots to make sure that the whole potato salad is properly seasoned all over. Don't be afraid of salt here too - potatoes really need it. It should be right when you can't stop eating it.