Japanese Potato Salad

Potato salad has never been a food that got me excited, and I don't think I'm alone in that. The average grocery store potato salad is just not all that good. This was before I discovered Japanese potato salad. We are lucky enough to have a Japanese restaurant a few minutes from our house that serves bento boxes all day, and potato salad is an ever-present component. It also occurs to me this is the first time I've posted about a Japanese dish, and this popular item is a great place to start. The crunchy cucumbers and colorful carrots provide a great contrast to the potato base, and it works well as a side to any dish.

The unusual ingredient here is Japanese mayonnaise. From what I've heard, mayo is a highly popular condiment in Japan, where they put it on everything, including pizza. Kewpie is the brand you will likely encounter. For more information about exotic ingredients, I have created a new page with an ever-growing list of ingredients used or mentioned on the blog, discussing usage and where to buy them.

Ingredients

• 2 lb potatoes (gold or red)
• 2 large carrots
• 3 hard-boiled eggs
• 1/2 large cucumber (approx), thinly sliced
• 1/2 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 Tbs rice vinegar
• 1/2 cup Japanese mayonnaise
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Get some water boiling in a pot. While the water heats up, peel the potatoes and carrots. Quarter the potatoes and cut the carrots into similar-sized pieces. Cook until soft and can be pierced easily with a fork. Use a potato masher to partially mash the potatoes. You want to leave some chunkiness to it. Cut up the carrots into coins or half coins for the bigger end. Set these aside to cool.

If you have not previously boiled the eggs, you can toss them in the water now, turn the heat down to low, and they will be done in 10-12 minutes. Transfer eggs to a cold water bath. Once they have cooled off, peel and dice.

To prepare the cucumber, slice as thinly as you can. I used this as an opportunity to try out our new mandoline from IKEA, but a sharp knife will also do the job. Put the slices into a bowl, salt thoroughly, and mix to coat the pieces. Let this stand for 15-20 minutes. This quick pickling has a similar effect to what I did with the cabbage in the fried rice recipe in September. The water is drawn out of the cucumber (there will be a lot of it!). Squeeze the cucumber to release as much as possible and discard the water.

Assemble the potato salad in a large bowl. Combine potatoes, carrots, eggs, cucumber, and diced onion. Add vinegar and mayonnaise, and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and let the mixture chill in the refrigerator for about an hour. It also stands up well the next day.

This recipe is pretty flexible. The potatoes, carrots, and eggs for the pictured batch were actually cooked the day before and it turned out fine. You can also adjust the amount of mayo to your liking, or add more of those tasty cucumber slices. As for the potato variety, I have used both red and gold, and both were good.