Tag: potato salad

Warm & cool beetroot, tuna with couscous salad meal recipe.

Yeap, another recipe for salad. Can’t you tell that we’re desperately trying to eat more healthily? All those late night suppers and crisps and salted chunky chocolate chip cookies have truly shown on our mid sections -_-

Just last night at 3am, I cracked 6 eggs, grated half a block of mature cheddar to make the most decadent cheesy scrambled eggs on marmite toasts.

Yeap. Trust me, we need these damn salads.

# – Beetroot, tuna & couscous salad meal.

The redeeming point is that this salad taste pretty damn good. And, quite gorgeous to look at I must say :D

For the salad:

  • 1 can of solid tuna in brine, drained
  • 1 beetroot, sliced
  • 3 tablespoons of malt vinegar
  • 60 grams of couscous
  • 2 potatoes, cut into cubes
  • 2 carrots, cut into thick strips
  • 2 cucumbers, cut into cubes
  • 3 eggs, hard boiled
  • Water
  • 3 tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil
  • A dash of salt

For the dressing:

  • 100 ml of extra virgin olive oil
  • 50 ml of balsamic vinegar
  • A dash of salt and pepper

# – First of all, hard boil the eggs. What I normally do is submerge the eggs in water, then bring to a boil for 4 minutes. Turn off flame and allow to rest while I do other tasks.

# – While the eggs are cooling down, pan fry the tuna till crisp on the edges with just a touch of oil. Set aside.

# – In the same pan, pour enough water to cover the amount of beetroot slices, then add the 3 tablespoons of malt vinegar. Give it a dash of salt too.

# – Throw in the beetroots, cover and let them simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Cook longer if you want the beetroots to be softer.

# – Take the beetroot slices out and you’re now left with a deep purplish red liquid. Pour it away if there’s too much, leaving an amount enough to cook the couscous in. Cook the couscous in the liquid. This is my favourite part of the dish, making these deep purple red caviars :)

# – Now, it’s time to assemble the chilled part of the salad. Throw in the couscous, tuna, cucumbers, beetroots and eggs into 2 plates and stick in the fridge for at least an hour. Since we’re eating the salad as our main meal, the portion is quite large. However, if you’re making it as an appetiser to accompany other dishes, I reckon this recipe could be divided into at least 6 decent portions.

# – In the meantime, chuck the carrots and potatoes into a roasting tin. Drizzle with olive oil and a dash of salt. Shake the tin to coat the vegetables well. You can totally throw in some peeled whole garlic cloves too (yummy!).

# – Stick the tin of vegetables into a preheated oven of 190 degrees celcius for 45 minutes – 1 hour.

# – Make the dressing but whisking the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper together.

# – After the vegetables have done roasting, take the now chilled salads and throw in the beautifully roasted carrots and potatoes.

# – Drizzle the balsamic vinaigrette dressing all over the salad. Serve immediately.

# – Warm & cool beetroot, tuna with couscous salad meal, DONE!

I’ve actually made this a couple of times. This is surprisingly delicious for a salad (I am a carnivour), with a variety of textures in every bite.

The sweetness of the roasted carrots & potatoes went really well with the slightly tart beetroots and the purple couscous. The eggs and tuna provided the essential delicious proteins while the fresh cucumbers kept it all crisp and refreshing.

We’re toying with the idea of eating salad meals like this for a lengthy period of time and to be honest, I really wouldn’t mind as long as they taste like this every time.

All that’s left to do now is to conjure up more salad recipes that could replicate the fun & exciting eating experience of this salad!

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!