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)

Polish Cold Carrot Salad

My husband just bought me a 20 lb. bag of carrots.  That is a lot of carrots.

So, I scoured my memory for several easy recipes to make.  I remembered a salad that came up very often on our table when I was a child and was almost always on restaurant tables with anything we would order while eating in Poland.

In Polish, it is called Surowka z Marchewki and means Cold Carrot Salad.

We even had this salad as part of my husband's first meal in Poland while on our honeymoon.

This salad is served cold, is very easy and inexpensive to make, and delicious. 

I wouldn't be a Mama if I didn't mention that eating carrots prevents night blindness, are high in Vitamin A and have some Vitamin C, Iron and Calcium in them as well.  Also, a diet high in fruits and especially vegetables significantly lowers your chances of diabetes, obesity, cancer, and all sorts of other health disorders and diseases.  Eat your vegetables!

Alright, Mama's ballad to carrots is over.  On to the recipe...


Ingredients:

4-6 Carrots, tops removed, washed and peeled
1 Apple, washed and peeled
Juice from 1/2 a Lemon
1 tablespoon of Sunflower Oil *
Sugar and Salt, to taste


Grate the Carrots and Apple.  Mix all ingredients together.

Serve cold.  It's that simple. 

Smacznego!



Notes:

This dish goes great with pork and is perfect for hot weather.

* In Poland and many European countries, sunflower oil is used as often as "vegetable" (soybean) oil is here in the USA.  You can substitute with "vegetable" oil, if you like.  I usually buy my sunflower oil in the Polish or European stores since I like to try to avoid soy and corn as much as possible.

Bean and Pickle Salad

Summer is ending but for now, the weather is still warm enough for cool salads and side dishes.  I decided to create a bean salad based on the Polish cuisine.

Did the family eat it?  My older daughter ate only a little because she had already eaten a bit beforehand.  The toddler gobbled it up.  My picky American husband enjoyed it, as he does just about all my salads.  And, of course, I loved it!  My father, however, wasn't in the mood for this, preferring instead to eat the baked beans I also made.  I definitely plan to make this again and include it in my party menus.



Ingredients:

1 can Cannellini Beans, drained
2-3 Polish Dill Pickles, diced
2-3 small ripe Tomatoes, diced
1/2 Onion, diced
1/2 Leek, washed and chopped
1 tablespoon Vinegar
2 tablespoons Olive Oil

Any of the following:
Marjoram, to taste
Dill, to taste
Curly Parsley, to taste

Salt and Pepper



Mix.  Allow to sit covered in refrigerator for at least a couple of hours.  Eat.

Smacznego!



Notes:

If your stomach is sensitive to onions and leeks, caramelize them in a tablespoon of oil beforehand as I have done.

Also, real Polish dill pickles are not this strange day-glo color as in the picture.  My husband just decided to buy regular pickles from the local grocery store, which always contain yellow food dye.