Southern Clouds and Blessing: Japanese Potato Salad おいしいポテトサラダ

Good morning. I'm listening to Mike Cavanaugh writing this post with my favorite Caffè Latte in the kitchen. Since today Summer break's started until the 3rd week of August. I have 6 weeks! Woo hoo! I'll spend 3 weeks back in Tokyo to see my family and my friends. I've been waiting for it long long time since John got me the tickets last November. I always feel so lucky to have him (I'm always proud to have you John, of course) especially when it comes to flight and all that process. This time I can fly on both way for about 700 bucks even though it's the middle Summer season. And sure, I can get flight tickets 90% off because he's a cabin attendant. So I'm thinking of a surprise visit for my mom ;) Where are you flying this Summer?

Do you know Japanese potato salad? Have you had it before? No? You should give it a try. Not only John loves it but also both of his parents loved it, too! I am sure that German people would like it more than their Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) ;) From my experience of having potato salads here, they're way too sweet, out of seasoning performance, and boring to eyes : lack of a variety of color. Food should be, in my opinion, determined by how it looks and food should make people think "I want to eat it" at the first glance. What do you cook for? You probably want to make nice food to please your partner or your family with a satisfaction, don't you? Then Dish & color & seasoning performance is very important. It's not cool that food is made only to make people stuffed, is it? I am always serious about what I cook, what I eat with people, and what foods give us.

Japanese potato salad itself doesn't actually have cheese in. If you'd like to have original one, skip cheese part and enjoy its flavor! Have a wonderful Friday!

4 Portion (4人分)

10 small Potatoes, peeled, cut small (じゃがいも小10個)

2 small Yellow Onions, thinly sliced (たまねぎ小2個, 薄くスライス)

1 medium Cucumber, thinly sliced (きゅうり 1本, 薄くスライス )

1/4 cup/ 50g powdered Parmesan cheese (パルメザンチーズ 50g, スライスチーズ2枚程度でも可)

2 boiled Eggs, separate egg white & yolk, cut into pieces (ゆで卵 2個, 細かく切る)

1 small Carrot, thinly sliced (人参小1本, 薄くスライス)

1 teaspoon powdered Dashi (=Japanese stock) (和風だし(顆粒)小さじ1)

4 to 5 Tablespoons Mayonnaise (マヨネーズ大さじ4~5: 量はお好み)

Freshly ground pepper (粗挽き胡椒少々 )

1 to 2 Tablespoon Salt: salt slices of cucumber and then soften them by squeezing. Wash cucumber. Drain well. (塩(塩もみ用) 大さじ1~2ぐらい)

Directions......>>>>>

1 Slice cucumbers into small pieces. In a medium bowl, dump cucumbers, sprinkle 1 to 2 Tablespoon Salt, crumble them up evenly for 1 minute. Set aside.
Peel off potatoes, cut into chunks, boil till a stick penetrates potatoes all the way through the other side smoothly. Drain well.
In another large bowl, place potatoes and parmesan cheese to smash 70~80% like the 2nd photo. I like to enjoy the small chunks of potatoes :)

きゅうりは小さくスライスし、塩もみしてしばらく放置。

じゃがいもは皮をむいて荒めに切り芯まで火が通るまで茹でる。粉チーズと一緒に7~8割程度まで潰す。多少歯ごたえがあった方がおいしいから完全に潰さない(写真)。

2 In the bowl with salted cucumber, pour in plenty water to squeeze salt out. Drain water. Repeat this twice. Squeeeeeze drained cucumber well. Sorry, I couldn't take the picture!

きゅうりが入ったボールに水を入れ、もみながら塩気を抜く。揉む→流すを２回ぐらい繰り返した後、ぎゅーっと絞る。

3 In the large bowl with potato-cheese mixture, toss thinly sliced carrot, onion, squeezed cucumber, and egg. Add mayonnaise, Dashi powder, and freshly ground black pepper to it.

マッシュしたじゃがいもに、準備した人参、きゅうり、玉ねぎ、卵を入れマヨネーズと顆粒だしを加えてムラなく混ぜる。最後に粗挽き胡椒で整える。