My Mum’s Polish Potato Salad

I made my mum’s Polish potato salad the other day. It was one of my favourite salads growing up and it’s perfect for a barbecue party or a pot luck party. The key is to chop the potatoes and eggs (once cooked) as well as the pickles into little tiny cubes, the smaller the better.

It looked so pretty and it is so tasty. Do you know what Mama said? “Looks nice, but I serve it in a bowl and you forgot the dill.”

So, if you make it, don’t forget the dill!

 

Recipe: My Mum’s Polish Potato Salad

 

Ingredients:

500g maincrop or new potatoes, washed and peeled

2 free range eggs

2 sweet pickled cucumber spears, finely chopped

3 spring onions, finely chopped

100g mayonnaise

50g sour cream

2 tablespoons liquid from the cucumber spears

Salt and pepper to season

Fresh dill, to decorate

 

Method:

  1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Chop the potatoes and half and put them in the pan and boil for seven minutes. After seven minutes, add the two eggs and boil in the same pan for a further ten minutes. Check the potatoes are cooked and drain the potatoes and eggs under cold water. The eggs will be hard boiled.  
  2. Chop the potatoes into small cubes. Peel the hard boiled eggs and chop them into small pieces. Put the potatoes and eggs into a large bowl. Add the finely chopped sweet pickled cucumbers and most of the spring onions – save a sprinkle to use as a garnish.
  3. In a separate, smaller bowl, add the mayonnaise and sour cream and add a couple of tablespoons of the liquid from the sweet pickled cucumber spears to loosen. Whisk together well and pour over the potatoes.
  4. Mix everything together well. Season with salt and pepper and decorate with fresh dill and the rest of the spring onions. You can serve the salad immediately, but it tastes better the next day – leave it to cool down completely before refrigerating.

 

Simple and in Season Blog Event

I’m linking this up to Simple and in Season hosting this month by Katie Bryson at Feeding Boys and a Firefighter – maincrop potatoes and spring onions are both in season now.

Are you a dill or pickled cucumber fan?!

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20 Comments

  1. Does it make a difference, choosing maincrop or new potatoes? Are earlies not suitable?

  2. This sounds great I love pickles and dill! My mouth is watering!

  3. Ooh, this sounds pretty perfect to me, dill or no dill! A big bowl of this and spoon is all I need I think.

    1. Thanks Sian, yes a big spoon, works great alongside a barbecue too, though we’re probably getting a bit past that stage now here!

  4. Mmmm potato and egg with gherkins and sour cream – what’s not to love! I can see my boys devouring a bowl of this NO problem! Thanks for linking up Ren 🙂

    1. Really, wow, my kids hate gherkins but they love egg mayonaise and potato so they’d have it plainer. Hope you are getting lots of lovely entries so far x

  5. This is nostalgia food for me as my US-German grandmother used to make something very similar but with poppy seeds. The egg is always a must as it bumps potato salad into a meal salad with the protein. Chunks/slivers of smoked salmon, or even flecks of roe, are things I sometimes add too. Always, always with finely minced dilled pickles. This is making me hungry! Better go and eat breakfast…

    1. Wow, Poppy Seeds, what a lovely idea. Yes, I love egg in a cold salad, definitely adds to it. And I’d love it with smoked salmon on the side, too. Lots of great ideas for additions!

  6. I love the idea of adding egg to the salad. I will try that soon. I really shouldn’t have come here on a fast day though. Now I am desperate for potato salad. ps love your new header!

    1. Thanks Jac! Yes, not really ideal for a fast day, the eggs adds a lovely extra flavour and it makes sense with the mayo in there already. It should be so fine that it almost blends in. Have a great weekend hope the fasting is going ok – fruit salad next which would be ok!

  7. Oh I adore this salad and would love the addition of dill, one of my favourite herbs. Dill pickles are so good too. I am more likely to leave out the egg but that’s just personal taste and I am sure you will not dare to leave out the dill if you serve this to your mother again!

    1. I think it would have dill all the way through it too, not just as a garnish but dill is a bit of an acquired taste. You really can’t avoid it in Polish cooking. Glad you like it! x

  8. I’d deliberately leave out the Dill, which I dislike intensely. The Spring Onions look just fine.

    1. Mark you always make me chuckle, no dill for you! I’m guesing you wouldn’t have the pickled herrings on the side either…!

  9. I love both dill and gherkins because of a salad similar to this that my Polish aunt always made for us (and still makes). It includes a few extra ingredients such as cooked carrots (small dice) and peas. We called it Russian salad although she said that in Poland it was also called Easter salad. I like the idea that you cooked the potatoes and eggs in the same pan.

    1. Ooh yes that’s another favourite – it is a Russian salad but they call it a vegetable salad in Poland, again the smaller the veg cubes the better and I like it when it starts to go a little mushy 🙂

  10. hah!… mum’s eh? They know how to lift you up and how to knock you down… my mum would have done exactly the same… ‘you forgot this’… ‘I serve it like that’… oh well, it looks amazing and so pretty, and I love the inclusion of egg, very nice!

    1. Thank Dom, I love my mum! She definitely has a way with words but I wouldn’t have it any other way! I dread to think what would happen if I made any significant changes! Have a lovely weekend. Looking forward to Random Recipes.

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