I love a good Japanese Potato Salad. This is my version of it.
There isn’t anything complicated about this recipe but to have it taste like a Japanese Potato Salad, you must use a Japanese brand of mayonnaise (I prefer Kewpie), there must be boiled eggs, surimi (imitation crab meat), thinly sliced and lightly salted cucumbers and some onions. The mayonnaise based dressing has sugar, rice vinegar (not cider vinegar -too harsh for the salad) and dashi granules (Japanese soup stock granules) in it. The dressing ingredients makes for a very moreish tasting salad, especially with the addition of those dashi granules.
This salad will keep at least a full 24 hours. If you intend to eat it in stages, always use a clean spoon to dish out portions to serve.
| Prep: | ~30 minutes |
| Cook: | ~20 minutes |
| Inactive: | ~30 minutes |
| Level: | Easy |
| Makes: | ~8 cups |
| Oven Temperature: | – |
| Can recipe be doubled? | – |
| Make ahead? | Keeps well at least 24 hours. |
Ingredients1 cup =8.45 US fl oz =250ml ~1.2 lbs (550g) potatoes (What kind of potatoes? Please scroll down to *) Dressing * Not all potatoes are alike. There are 3 broad catergories: starchy, waxy and “all-rounder”. The “all-rounder” has both ” starchy and waxy” qualities and are the most versatile as in you can use them for mash or in a dish like a potato salad where you want the cut potatoes to hold its shape and not fall apart too much. With Japanese Potato Salad, unlike Potato Salads in the west, the boiled potatoes are not meant to hold its shape. They have to be served somewhat between a mash and a western-style potato salad. I like to use an “all-rounder” potato such as Maris Piper potatoes. They are creamy and fluffy. If you like this potato salad to be on the far end of the mashy side, use a Russet potato (starchy). If you want them the opposite of mashy, choose a waxy potato. As a general guide, potatoes with a “thinner and more translucent” skin are waxy potatoes which are firmer in texture and will hold its shape upon cooking. The potatoes with a rougher skin (sometimes covered in some soil) are starchy varieties (but not always). Nowadays, the packaging on potatoes will indicate how best to use the potatoes. So if in doubt, read wordings on packaging. |
Method
Slice onions and sit them in water
1. Wash, peel, slice onions thinly and then, dice them very small.
2. Sit them in enough cold water to cover for ~30 minutes or overnight (refrigerated) to remove some of its pungency.
Slice cucumber into thin rings, salt them
1. If the cucumber has a tough peel, peel off and discard. Discard seeds that are large.
2. Slice thinly, salt it with the 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let it sit ~20 minutes.
3. Press cucumbers gently and discard liquid.
Cook potatoes and eggs first, then the mixed frozen (but already thawed) vegetables
1. Thaw frozen vegetables.
2. Wash, peel and cut potatoes into chunks.
3. Place into a pot with the 3 eggs. Cover with plenty of water.
4. Bring to a boil. Once water comes to a boil, set timer for 7 minutes.
5. When timer rings, remove eggs into a bowl of ice water. Cool, peel and cut into large pieces.
6. Leave potatoes to continue cooking, ~5 minutes or until you can pierce through them with a skewer.
7. Drain off water and return potatoes back into pot and onto the same burner.
8. Add thawed frozen vegetables.
9. Cover and leave ~10 minutes for the residual heat from potatoes and burner to cook the frozen vegetables.
Prepare dressing whilst waiting for frozen vegetables to cook
1. Into a big bowl, add all dressing ingredients except mayonnaise.
2. To help with dissolving the sugar and dashi granules, I use my microwave (~1 minute) or if your bowl is heatproof, over the stove top will work as well.
2. Stir in the drained onions.
Adding in other ingredients
1. As soon as frozen vegetables are cooked, remove from burner. Drain off any excess water, add potatoes and vegetables into bowl with the salad dressing. The residual heat from the potatoes and vegetables will further help to reduce the pungency of the raw onions.
2. Fold into the dressing.
3. Add crab sticks (sliced first into ~1″ (2.5cm) and shredded roughly) and add mayonnaise over it.
4. Fold in.
5. When salad is cooled, fold in the cucumbers (discard any excess liquid first). Adding cucumbers into hot salad draws out too much water from it.
6. Fold in diced eggs.
7. Taste and adjust seasoning.
To serve
1. Serve at room temperature or cold.
Tips
As this is easy to prepare…
Prepare this for a potluck
It’s a great make ahead dish
It can feed many.
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