This spiced potato salad is a super easy recipe, a twist to the classic potato salad made with mayonnaise. Perfect as a side, and especially on the barbecue table.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Spiced Potato Salad
This is going to be a quick post as there isn’t a whole lot to talk about. I made a ginger, spring onion and chilli sambal a week or so ago. I mentioned on that post that I love making a potato salad with it, so here we are.
There are 2 parts to the recipe: the potatoes and the sambal. This is what we’ll be doing:
- Bring a large pan of water to a boil with salt.
- Scrub and clean the potatoes. Then halve any big ones.
- Boil the potatoes for 15 minutes until cooked through.
- While the potatoes are cooking, we’ll make the sambal. If you use a food chopper, this can be done in less that 10 minutes. With a pestle and mortar, slightly longer.
- When the potatoes are done, drain them and leave to steam dry for a couple of minutes.
- Make the salad dressing by mixing the sambal with mayonnaise.
- Mix the dressing through the potatoes, season and top with herb of choice.
That it!
Ingredients for Spiced Potato Salad
Let’s take a look at the parts that make up our spiced potato salad, shall we?
What Potatoes are best for Boiling?
You want waxy potatoes, as they are best for boiling and adding to salads. Charlotte and Anya potatoes are the most popular examples here in the UK.
Do a search online for waxy potatoes where you are, as there are hundreds of potato varieties, and every region will grow different ones.
There are also a few all rounders that can be used, like Maris Piper and Rooster.
I tend to make this with small salad potatoes as most of them can then be left whole.
The Sambal in Spiced Potato Salad Dressing
This is a sambal I made a week or so ago, based on the green ginger and spring onion oil I serve with Hainanese chicken rice. The recipe is on my other blog, Singaporean and Malaysian Recipes.
I tweaked the original recipe a little and the result was just awesome, I make it all the time because it’s so easy. This is what we need:
- Ginger
- Spring Onions (Scallions)
- Green Chillies
- Vegetable Oil
- Soy Sauce
- Salt
All easily found, right?
I’ll give you the recipe for the sambal too, but if you want to read up more about it, click here.
Mayonnaise
Our spiced potato salad dressing is made up of the ginger and spring onion sambal and mayonnaise. Super easy. You can use any mayo you like, it doesn’t matter, it all works beautifully. But not flavoured mayo, because that’s what our sambal is for.
- low fat
- zero fat
- vegan mayonnaise – this is what I use when Sapphire is home from Uni, as she can’t eat eggs
How to Serve this Spiced Potato Salad
Serve it just as you would any potato salad or in fact, any potato dish. It can be eaten warm, at room temperature or cold. So you can keep leftovers in the fridge. Let it rest for 5 minutes out of the fridge, then enjoy!
This spiced potato salad can be eaten as a side or a main. As a side, serve it as part of a meal with any meat or fish. It’s great on the barbecue or buffet table.
Want to have it as a main? Add some protein to it, something crunchy like crispy bacon always works. I love to add fried anchovies, as I don’t do bacon. Boiled potatoes, shredded meat and little cubes of tofu are also great additions.
So there you go, a super easy, yet different way to enjoy a potato salad/ Let’s get our aprons on!
If you enjoy the recipe, drop me a comment and let me know. And if you are feeling like a star, don’t forget that 5-star rating! 😉Thank you!
If you make this recipe, post it on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @azlinbloor and hashtag it #linsfood.
Lin xx
Spiced Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 1 kg salad potatoes
- large pan of water + 3 Tbsp salt
- 3 Tbsp ginger and spring onion sambal more or less, to taste, recipe below
- 4 Tbsp mayonnaise more or less, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper
- tiny amount of chopped spring onions or fresh coriander leaves to finish (scallions or cilantro)
Ginger and Spring Onion Sambal
- 50 g fresh ginger this is the clean weight after peeling or scraping
- 100 g spring onions scallions
- 5-10 green chillies heat level is up to you see article above
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- 4-6 Tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
Cook the Potatoes
- Bring a large pan of water to a boil with salt. While waiting for it to boil, scrub and clean the potatoes. Then halve any big ones. Boil the potatoes for 15 minutes until cooked through.Push a small, sharp knife through the largest piece. If it glides through, they're done. Don't overcook the potatoes.While the potatoes are cooking, we’ll make the sambal.
- When the potatoes are done, drain them and leave to steam dry for a couple of minutes.
Ginger and Spring Onion Sambal
- Make this while the potatoes are cooking or earlier. It keeps in the fridge for a week. The video below doesn't include the sambal, as that's already covered here.Scrape the skin off the ginger and chop up roughly.Chop up the spring onions and chillies roughly.
- Pestle and Mortar: Start with pounding a few ginger pieces for about 10 seconds. Add ⅓ of the spring onions and all the chillies and pound until they're coarsely pounded.The initial ginger acts as a base to pound the thin spring onions on.
- You can also do this in a food chopper. In which case, place everything in and pulse to get a coarse grind. Or semi fine, whichever you prefer.
- Add a few more ginger pieces and another third of the spring onions and pound.Finish this with the rest of the ginger and spring onions and pound until you're happy with how big or small the pieces are. I like a coarse grind.
Cook the Sambal Briefly
- Heat up the oil in a small frying pan on medium heat to simmering. I like to use 6 Tbsp of oil, but you can use just 4, if you prefer.Place a wooden utensil in your oil, and if you see tiny bubbles hugging it, your oil is hot enough.
- Turn the heat to medium-low and tip the pounded aromatics in and cook for 2 minutes.
- Take it off the heat and stir in the soy sauce and taste it. If it needs more salt, you can either add more soy sauce or salt. The more soy sauce you use the less vibrant green your ginger and spring onion sambal will be.Keep the rest of the sambal in the fridge for up to a week.
Bring Everything Together
- Mix the sambal and mayonnaise together in a small bowl.
- Add to the drained potatoes and very gently mix it all together, ensuring that the potatoes are fully covered.
- Finish off with some freshly ground black pepper and optional chopped spring onions or fresh coriander leaves.
Will it go with Malaysian food?
Definitely, because it’s made with a homemade spring onion and ginger sambal.