The Daring Cooks - Potato Salad with Curried Mayonnaise

OK, OK, I know. This is practically Coronation chicken salad. But it's not. It has a twist. My twist. The curry powder is homemade, as is the mayonnaise (oooh, fancy). And I made it with a mix of sweet potatoes and new potatoes too.

Therefore I am entitled to claim the recipe... well not exactly, but I did make without referring to any other recipe. However, after I made the salad, I looked online out of curiosity, only to find tons of recipes that were similar. Dagnabit!! Well, I say, its not exactly the same, so I think I may be safe in posting this one up.

We love our potato salads in the house. Creamy, tangy, crunchy, with a kick of English mustard at the end. When the Daring Cooks decided that this month's challenge was going to be potato salad, I cheered. Because it ain't a challenge, its practically everyday food for us. The challenge was to find something different to do with it. My family are a bit stick-in-the-mud sometimes. Some things have to stay the same. Potato salad is one of them, as my original was MIL's recipe, and what Kay grew up with.

Which reminds me of a kind of funny story. Now as we all know, wife cooking is never as good as mum cooking. Right? Yes, of course. Kay and I went camping with friends of ours. I made Kay's mum's potato salad recipe, and it turned out surprisingly good. One of our friends was in a cranky mood though (we call it surly!) and he grumbles 'but this does not taste like the one my mum makes'... to which Kay snaps back 'of course not, it tastes like my mum makes' :-) Boys boys, settle down now!

However, coming back to the potato salad! Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

The first potato dish I tried out was my spicy roast potatoes, but then I felt they weren't 'salady' enough for this challenge. So I tried again, and this time I wanted to make the classic potato salad, but with an Indian twist. I remembered my mother-in-law making a delicious curry mayonnaise to go with her yam fries. So I thought, why not use that mayonnaise to make a dressing for a potato salad? MIL used Miracle Whip, but I wanted to play around with making my own mayonnaise to. I turned to Jamie Oliver, and he didn't disappoint with his yummy, tangy aioli recipe. After putting everything together, I was quite pleased with the version that I came up with, and fortunately it was well accepted in the house too. Phew!

Actually, this salad was pretty terrific. There was the heat and spice of the curry paste, the tanginess of the lime juice, the slight smokiness of black pepper, a very gentle hint of garlic, a slight savoury, salty taste, the yoghurt calmed everything down and the mayonnaise was just out of this world (thanks Jamie Oliver). The new potatoes absorbed the dressing beautifully, and the sweet potatoes were just a delight, as you bit into each one. It was pretty much a complete taste sensation.

We had it with Indian style veggie burgers (recipe coming soon) and a dry white wine (well, the adults had the wine) It doesn't do to stray too far from the classics, but what's life without a little daring, right?

Here's the recipe, enjoy! Oh, and aren't the chive flowers ever so pretty? The chives are from my own herb garden, and I am well pleased with them :-)

Recipe:
(Printable Recipe)

1 - 2 large sweet potatoes, cubed
650 g new potatoes, scrubbed (peeled, if you wish) and halved
1 tbsp Madras Curry Powder (if using shop bought, use the mild variety)
1 tbsp vegetable or olive oil (don't use extra-virgin)
1 cup mayonnaise (or aioli, as Jamie calls it, don't add the lemon juice the recipe calls for, as you'll be adding lime juice to the dressing)
2 tsp lime juice + a little more if you like the salad tangy
1/2 cup plain fat free yoghurt
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
Fresh ground black pepper
Big handful fresh chives or (green) onions, snipped

Method:

Boil the sweet potatoes and the new potatoes separately until just tender. The reason for boiling them separately is that sweet potatoes cook faster than new potatoes, and you don't want them falling apart. Boiling separately takes care of the problem.

Let the potatoes cool completely.

In a small pan, heat the vegetable or olive oil, and add the Madras curry powder to it. It will be of a paste like consistency. Saute this for about 1 - 2 minutes, until the paste is fragrant. Take off the heat, and cool.

In a bowl, whisk together the the above curry paste, aioli or mayonnaise, lime juice, yoghurt, salt and pepper. Taste, and adjust the lime juice/ salt/ pepper to your taste.

Gently fold the potatoes into the dressing. Sprinkle over the chives or green onions to garnish. Enjoy as a delicious addition to a summer barbeque.