Three Dressings for Potato Salad

What do you love to add to a potato salad? Everyone has their own way of making this favourite South African side dish. In this blog Heleen Meyer shares three dressing ideas to choose from for the next time you decide to make potato salad. She has a Sour cream and dill dressing, Curried yoghurt dressing and a Parmesan and lemon dressing to turn every day, into gourmet. These are definitely not your typical mayonnaise options, but we promise that with all three of these flavourful combinations, everyone will be going back for more.

And when it comes to the salad ingredients, why not try something new and add a few extra ingredients for a special flavour to spruce things up. You can even add a tin of tuna, drained or flaked peppered mackerel and avocado slices to the sour cream dressing to turn this into a light and tasty meal. Cooked chicken or bacon will be superb with the curried yoghurt dressing option as a light meal. Or try the Parmesan dressing and add some rocket leaves, marinated sun-dried tomatoes, olives, feta, and fresh origanum for a whole new ‘modern’ potato salad.

Here are a few other options:

1. Hard-boiled eggs, cubed or sliced
2. Onions: white onion or red onion, chopped or spring onion, thinly sliced
3. Red or yellow peppers, chopped or thinly slices
4. Gherkins: sliced or diced
5. Jalapeños or Peppadews®, for some added zing
6. Any chopped fresh herbs of your choice. Origanum, Italian parsley, dill and thyme are all known to be delicious with potatoes.

Cooked to perfection

When it comes to cooking potatoes make sure to use a skewer or a sharp knife to only pierce a small hole into the potatoes to test if they are cooked. A big slit will cause too much water to be absorbed by the potatoes and they may burst open – leaving you with soggy potatoes. When making potato salad, it’s also better to cook the potatoes whole and then peel and cut them into cubes, to prevent the potatoes from being too watery. Don’t leave cooked potatoes in the hot water; rather drain them immediately. Cold potatoes or at room temperature are much easier to cut, than while hot.

Mix the potato salad with the back of a wooden spoon or your hands to prevent the potatoes from breaking up too much, once the sauce is added. Heleen says she loves to use baby potatoes in the skin, as they cook faster than big potatoes and there is no need to peel them, as the thin skins add fibre to the salad. So, they’re not only healthier, but also less effort to prepare.

Three dressings for potato salad

Recipe by Heleen Meyer for Make five/Maak vyf

Serves 4 – 6

750 g baby potatoes in the skin

salt and pepper

15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil

Sour cream and dill dressing

30 ml (2 tbsp) lemon juice

125 ml (½ cup) sour cream

30 ml (2 tbsp) milk

60 ml (¼ cup) coarsely chopped fresh dill

Curried yoghurt dressing

125 ml (½ cup) good quality mayonnaise

125 ml (½ cup) plain yoghurt

2,5 ml (½ tsp) apricot jam or honey

5 ml (1 tsp) mild curry powder or more to taste

45 m (3 tbsp) chopped fresh coriander leaves

Parmesan and lemon dressing

45 ml (3 tbsp) olive oil

juice and finely grated rind of 1 lemon

30 ml (2 tbsp) chopped fresh chives

30 ml (2 tbsp) finely grated parmesan or white cheddar cheese

1. Place potatoes in a small saucepan with a pinch of salt and a few centimetres of water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat and simmer with a lid on for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
2. Drain potatoes and place in a large mixing bowl. Pour over the oil and toss the potatoes until they are coated with the oil – this adds some lovely flavour. Allow to cool and cut in half.
3. Choose a dressing that pairs well with the rest of your meal. Mix all the ingredients for the selected sauce together well and season to taste. Toss the potatoes in the dressing and serve cold or at room temperature.

For more recipes like this visit Heleen’s website.

Image by Neville Lockhart