Category: Vegetarian

Chilled potato salad, just the way I like it.

We love potatoes in our household. Unless we’re having rice, we’re surely having potatoes. Sometimes, I even serve potatoes with rice, hehe.

There’s just something really satisfying about eating potatoes. It makes me happy. It makes my toes curl. It makes me sing happy songs.

And potatoes are so versatile, you can turn them into so many different types of dishes, it’s quite mind boggling really. My most favourite potato dish is layered potatoes, but the truth is, I’m also a not-so-secret potato salad fiend.

I have few requirements when it comes to potato salads. They are:

1. The potatoes should be cooked through but not overcooked.
2. The salad should be well-seasoned.
3. The salad should have onions.
4. The salad must have a mixture of mashed and chunky potatoes.
5. The salad MUST be chilled.

There are few dishes that should strictly be eaten chilled and potato salad is one of these dishes. Sorry, I am autocratic when it comes to the temperature of my potato salad….

So now lets make some potato salad, just the way I like it!

Ingredients:

  • 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 1 red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 stalk of spring onion, finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoon of mayonnaise
  • 2 eggs
  • salt and black pepper to taste

# – First, peel and chop up the potatoes.

# – Then finely chop up both spring onion and red onion. Yeah, baby I love my onions!

# – Put the chopped potatoes to boil in slightly salted water. I’d say about 15-20 minutes, but do check with a fork…when you can poke it all the way through, it’s done!

# – In the meantime, put the 2 eggs into a pot of water. Turn on the flame and let the eggs cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the flame and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then remove eggs from water and let them cool down.

# – After the potatoes are done, drain them.

# – Throw the drained potatoes into a mixing bowl together with the finely chopped red onion and spring onion. Ideally this should be done while the potatoes are still quite hot because the heat will cook the onions a little bit, making them taste less harsh.

# – Next, stir them around till it looks like the potatoes are coated with the onions.

# – Then with a potato masher, mash lightly till you get some mash with chunky bits.

# – Now throw in 3 big dollops of mayonnaise. Stir to mix.

# – Some salt to taste. Don’t be too heavy handed with salt….taste as you go!

# – And some black pepper.

# – You eggs should have cooled down by now. Peel the eggs and cut into bite-size.

# – Throw them into the potatoes. Mix gently without bruising the eggs too much. The reason why I put in the eggs so late is because I don’t like the idea of stirring my eggs too long…I want the yolks more intact ;)

# – Transfer them into a container that can fit into your fridge.
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# – Have a taste. You know you want to…

# – Wrap the container with clingwrap and stick it into the fridge for at least 2 hours.

# – Serve with your favourite main dish. I made the salad for our dinner of pan fried dory with lemon oil sauce.

And there….chilled potato salad, just the way I like it. The cold, creamy potatoes with perfectly boiled eggs, punctuated by crunchy onions….my kind of comfort food. Get some potatoes in the system, now!

Delicious no-cook chinese marinated cucumbers.

I decided to make this after paying about RM5 for a puny plate of chopped 1/2 a cucumber at a chinese restaurant. Well, with RM5 I could get about 10 quality Japanese cucumbers (kyuri).

I can’t believe people (myself included) are actually paying RM5 for something that doesn’t even need cooking. I’m starting to sound like a major tight fisted housewife….but that’s exactly who I am!

This recipe is entirely my own conception, based on how I like to eat it. The marinade is savoury with just a tad of tartness from the Worcestershire sauce and kick from the chillies. I guess you can use ordinary cucumbers (with the seeds removed) but for best results, do use the Japanese sort as they’re more crunchy.

    Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoon of sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon of light soya sauce
  • 1/2 tablespoon of Chinese rice wine
  • 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
  • 1 – 2 Japanese cucumbers, chopped

# – First of all, cut the cucumbers into the shapes you want. By the way, you know how sometimes cucumbers can taste really bitter? There’s this trick that a senior in high school taught me….cut off the end of a cucumber and then rub the surface with it till tiny bubbles form around it, like this….

And you won’t have bitter cucumbers anymore. Honestly, I have no scientific or logical explanation for it, but it works!

# – I soaked the cucumbers in iced water for 10 minutes to crispen them up. Set aside. Honestly I don’t know if this works but psychologically I feel that it does :D So feel free to omit this step.

# – In a bowl, mix the sesame oil, light soya sauce, Chinese rice wine, Worcestershire sauce and chillies.

# – Throw the drained cucumbers into the mixture. Mix. Cover with cling wrap and stick it in the fridge to chill for a minimum of 2 hours. Don’t put in the fridge uncovered as this will dry out the cucumbers.

You could even marinade them in a freezer bag so that all the cucumbers could absorb the marinade more evenly and thoroughly.

# – Serve as an appetiser or even as a vegetable dish of its own to go with rice.

Very tasty, very refreshing and best of all….very accommodating to my purse ;)

Fresh and crunchy salsa anytime, anyday.

This salsa recipe is so simple and delicious that I could just eat it on its own, like a salad :D It’s very good with fajitas or eaten as bruschettas. There’s no fancing cooking technique involved, not even cooking itself. All you need is a reliable knife to chop up all the vegetables!

    The ingredients:

  • 5 medium sized tomatoes, seeded and chopped
  • 80-100 grams of coriander, roughly chopped
  • 2 medium sized red onions, finely chopped
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 3/4 tablespoon of coarse salt

# – The fresh ingredients.

# – Throw the roughly chopped coriander into a mixing bowl.

# – Then throw in the tomatoes.

# – Next in, the finely chopped red onions.

# – Sprinkle the coarse salt all over. Don’t be too heavy handed with salt, do taste as you go :)

# – And top it all off with the juice of 1 lemon.

# – Lastly, mix it all up!! Gorgeous, gorgeous colours!

# – Put in on a fajita….

# – Or even eat it as a salad on the side.

Now, this is a truly healthy salad and that’s why, I’m filing it under “Vegetarian” ;) It’s a surprise how something so simple and healthy can taste so gorgeous!