Recipe: Japanese Style Potato Salad

I love eating in Japanese bento boxes because I get to taste several dishes in one meal. One particular dish that I like is their potato salad especially the ones in Little Nonki (special mention there 😁) I know the portions are small and so bitin so I made a big batch for this Christmas Eve dinner to side with Virginia Black Forest Ham. I wanted to have a simple dinner this year by  making only 2 dishes. My version has a bit more veggies than usual. I like the fact that it has veggies and carbs in one dish so you don’t need to prep another side dish. You may add corn kernels and  kani flakes if you like. 

I’m using ingredients that are inexpensive and easy to find in the supermarkets like local potatoes, carrots, eggs and mayonnaise (you may use the authentic Japanese Kewpie) Make this hours ahead or a day before and store this covered in the fridge because it’s best served chilled. The leftovers makes excellent Noche Buena or for midnight snack. 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup carrots, shedded or in my case, thinly julliened 
• 1 small Japanese cucumber, thinly sliced
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3-4 medium sized potatoes, boiled, peeled and cut into cubes
• 1 cup mayonnaise 
• 1 tbsp mirin
• Togarashi or cayenne powder or paprika to taste (optional)
• Salt and white pepper to taste
• 3 hard boiled eggs, cut into chunk
• Black or white sesame seeds for garnish

Procedure:

1. Combine the carrots and cucumber and sprinkle some salt over it. Set aside of 10 minutes or so. Another option is to blanch the carrots quickly and combine with the cucumbers and sprinkle some salt over it. I like my carrots and cucumber raw and crunchy so I did the former option. 

2. Squeeze the vegetables after 10 minutes and add this to the boiled, cubed potatoes in a big mixing bowl. 

3. Mix the potato mixture with the mayonnaise, mirin, togarashi and salt and pepper. Mash the potatoes slightly as you mix so you’d get that super chunky mashed potato consistency that Japanese potato salad has. 

4. Fold in the hard boiled eggs gently. (My eggs are a bit overcooked.)

5. Store the salad in sealed container and chill until it’s ready to be served. 

6. Garnish with black or white sesame seeds and another dash of togarashi. 

Happy Holidays!