19 March 2012

Polish Potato Salad

Polish Potato Salad is called one of several different names in Polish.  Why so many different names?  I'm not sure but they each are different yet similar.  But if you look for a recipe for any of the different names you will find a million variations for each name.

It can be called Sałatka Warzywna (Vegetable Salad), Sałatka Kartofli or Sałatka Ziemniaczana (two different ways to say Potato Salad), Sałatka Zydowska (Jewish Salad, although the ingredients don't seem particularly specific to Jewish food traditions), or several other different names.

I personally call it Sałatka Warzywna, or around my non Polish friends and family, Polish Potato Salad.

Polish cuisine includes many such recipes using bits and pieces in the kitchen to make different delicious sides and salads.

One rule I follow in making this salad is making sure that the potatoes in my salad are no more than 1/2 of the amount of vegetables. 







Ingredients:

2-3 Red or White Potatoes, skins scrubbed, boiled in jackets
1-3 Carrots, peeled and boiled
1-2 ribs of Celery
3-4 Dill Pickles
1/2 Sweet Onion
2 Sour Apples
1 can of Sweet Peas, drained
3 hard boiled Eggs, peeled
1/4 cup Mayonnaise (more, if desired)
1-2 tablespoons fresh chopped Dill
Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional: 
1/2 Leek
1/2 lb. diced Ham
Replace part or all of the Mayonnaise with Sour Cream or Plain Yogurt



Peel and dice the potatoes in 1/4 inch cubes.

Dice all other vegetables (except peas) to about the same size as the peas, smaller than the potatoes.

Mix all together. 

Garnish with another hard boiled egg, dill or parsley, if you like.

Serve with Polish Pickle Burgers or other cookout foods. 

Smacznego!




Polish Mama Nutrition: 

If you use celery in the salad, you typically do not need to season with salt, since celery naturally contains salt and yet, is much more healthy for you.  Also, digesting celery burns more calories than you take in from it, which is why it is often recommended in weight loss plans.
If you use Apples in the recipe, you don't need to season with sugar, as some recipes recommend. 

If you make sure that your proportion of vegetables is larger than the potatoes, you are taking in more fiber and nutrients per bite, as well as more flavor.

This recipe is a great way to hide vegetables from kids, helping you raise Future Foodies.




Related Posts:

Bean and Pickle Salad

Our Easter Table (We serve this salad every Easter)

5 comments:

Rafał said...

Mamuśka, dobre jedzenie zapodajesz ;)

Pozdrowienia z Krakowa
Rafał

Unknown said...

I just made potato salad two days ago :) I craved it so much!
Instead of dill pickles I use regular pickeles and instead of peas, corn. But that's because I prefere one over the other and I use half mayonnaise and half plain yougurt with a few teaspoons of mustard.

wnygrl585 said...

I had this at my cousins house back when I visited. She made it several times. (vegetable salad) I asked her for the recipe but was not to sure of the dressing so hesitated to make it cause I wanted it to come out exactly as I remembered it. She used, beans (red) so assuming it to be kidney beans, peas and carrots,corn, cucumbers, can be pickles and toamtoes.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this recipe! It's a lot like the one my mom used to make (except for the apples)!!! She passed away a few years ago--She was from Poland and later lived in the Western U.S., and would have loved the name of your blog :) I don't know Polish recipes very well... This one worked out beautifully, thanks!

EmBee said...

I've introduce my Irish husband to this salad couple of years ago,it's still his favorite. We called it "communist salad" in my home in Poland, as the ingredients for it were usually available back in PRL, and it was always present at the table when we had guest over in my mum's house, or when we were guest at somebody else's house. I think of it with the hint of melancholy. I guess it was one of the flavors of my childhood. Pozdrawiam.