Friday, July 25, 2008

Potato Salad for Lunch, Honey!

Every month, Zlamushka, she of the spicy kitchen, selects one blog and opens it up for a widespread taste-test. Last month, my blog was lucky enough to be chosen and tried and tasted; a lot of pav bhaji got made, I can tell you that much! This month, it is the turn of Meeta's spectacular blog, What's For Lunch, Honey?


Meeta's blog and mine could not be more different if we tried! In my home, the question, "What's for lunch, honey?" usually has a fairly predictable answer- "Leftovers from last night's dinner, that's what!"...but in Meeta's home, the answer is something vastly more decadent and gorgeous. Meeta's blog is also the place for me to gaze dreamily at exotic and hard-to-pronounce desserts. She brings a professionalism and perfection to baking that is very inspiring to me.

This is the very first time I have tried a recipe from Meeta's blog. Usually, I only feast with my eyes there. For me, the metric measures that Meeta uses are a challenge, I must confess! I don't have a weighing scale in my kitchen, and I am too accustomed to the US style of recipe writing, with ounces and lbs, and more often, cups and teaspoons, and in my case, impossible measures like smidgens, pinches, and dashes! Today, I was looking for something light and summery and found something nice and lite; and proceeded to make it with my highly scientific measures, such as "handfuls".

Here's how I made Light Potato Salad, inspired by Meeta's recipe...
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Mix together in a large bowl:
- Two medium-large potatoes (washed but not peeled) in some salty water and boiled until just tender, then drained, peeled and diced into medium cubes
- A handful of fresh/frozen green peas and 1 carrot, cut in small dice, cooked in the microwave for 1-2 minutes to get them barely tender
- 2-3 T minced onion, rinsed in cold water
- 6-8 minced slices of bread and butter pickles (sweet pickled cucumber) and 1 T of pickling juice
- 1½ hard-boiled eggs, diced*
- Dressing: ¼ thick low-fat yogurt whisked with 1 T of herb-garlic cream cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste

* Why 1½ eggs and not two? Because other people pay sales tax, and in this home, we pay Dale's tax. Every time we cook with the puppy's favorite people food (eggs, cheese, dosa etc.) , he gets a cut.

This potato salad really is light and tasty and utterly delicious. We enjoyed the potato salad with some home made bean burgers for a wonderful summer meal. With the potato salad recipe from Germany and burgers with Indian spices, this was a cross-cultural meal with international flair, a little bit like Meeta's blog!

This is my contribution to the July Tried and Tasted event; thank you for hosting this unusual event, Zlamushka.

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Today (July 25th) is the last day to get in your entries for the MBP: Less is More event. The deadline is midnight PST. Check back tomorrow for the round-up, and for an announcement of the winners of the giveaways!

28 comments:

  1. I love both your blog and Meeta's, and it's a treat to find the intersection of the two in this lovely potato salad.

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  2. Nupur, kudos to you for battling against the measurements and creating the potato salad ;-) I have the same issues but the other way round. To stop all the cursing in the kitchen Tom bought a nice digital scale which reads both. PERFECT!

    Now you know what? I'd love to see on of those difficult to pronounce desserts on this space too.

    Thanks for the kind words!

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  3. Those burgers look great. Hope you plan to post that recipe too.

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  4. Am sure you and your honey were pleased with the meal - looks delicious. In my kitchen it's the same thing: lunch during weekdays = previous day's dinner :)

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  5. :....n this home, we pay Dale's tax" I found myself laughing reading that line...thanks dear for cheering up my mood :)

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  6. i don't mind leftovers from your dinner. may i move in? i'll pay dale too.

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  7. eggs,cheese & dosa..seems like dale and i share similar taste!
    potato salad & bean burgers sounds like an eclectic but scrumptious meal..any chances of you posting the bean burger recipe ?

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  8. Dale's tax!! ha ha..so cute, that was! :)

    ~Tulsi

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  9. leftovers from last night...so many desi gravies taste better the next day anyway ;)

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  10. Dale Tax - Thats so sweet. Poor guy he needs his treat & occassional treat too, right dale?
    Burger & Potato salad looks great Nupur!

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  11. I agree with mesurement, I wanted to try her baking goodies but struggled with converting ...
    Delicious combo!

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  12. Nupur , this looks so good .. Potatoes are comfort food for us any day and yes meeta's blog is indeed awesome

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  13. I will be so happy to pay double Dale's tax any day :)

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  14. Potato salad sounds delicious! I usually shy away but the yogurt dressing sounds like wonderful take on the mayo Based ones. Dale's cut of the favorite foods is hilarious!

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  15. this is a really nice post..Dale's tax:-).. I love Meeta's blog too, and this looks really delicious..

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  16. Hi Nupur, its a great salad!
    You have been tagged and a Magic Lamp of Luck is coming your way....check out my blog!

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  17. I think I make something similar but it's mayo-based. I like that too, but this one's so much better!
    I've hit a few roadblocks especially where baking recipes are concerned, due to all these conversions. I've never been good at math and this just makes my head spin! I don't even know what we call the non-metric system here in the U.S. :)

    I quite like your very scientific measures- pinches, dashes, hadndfuls and smidgens.:D
    I don't know if you are interested, but Lore @ Culinarty has a nifty tool that you can add to your sidebar for all these conversions. Makes life a lot simpler.

    and Dale's tax!- :D

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  18. The potato salad looks fab, with the addition of peas & carrots. Love the idea of adding eggs for a protein boost. Perfect summer plate that is! Today is the last day for MBP?! I'd a few recipes bookmarked for this but never had a chance to make them. I've been too busy to notice that the month of July is almost coming to an end! Looking forward to the round-up!

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  19. Dale likes eggs, cheese & dosa?! How cute!! BTW, those are little M's favorites too! :)

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  20. That is an ideal salad for any honey! Perfect!

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  21. Gorgeous salad! thanks - i seem to have missed that one.

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  22. Lovely recipe, reminds me of home :-) Glad to have read you could make it for this month´s challenge.

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  23. Nice blog, enjoy all your great creations. Never thought of yarn art in food, how cool. I've got a new blog, if you would like to ex. links? Have a great day.

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  24. Lydia, Thank you :)

    Meeta, To be honest with you, I prefer to bake and eat the simpler desserts/bakes! The intricate creations are best enjoyed as a spectator sport :D

    Reva, No, I will not be posting that recipe...it is simply an improvised kidney bean burger.

    Laavanya, It is pretty efficient to get 2 meals out of one evening's cooking, isn't it? It works out well for us too :)

    Shn, Good to know that Dale cheered you up...he makes us laugh all the time with his antic and unique personality.

    Bee, Dale says anyone who understands the concept of Dale's tax can move in any day!

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  25. Delhibelle, I don't know about eclectic- potato salad and burgers are standard staples at every US barbecue in summer!

    Tulsi, Thanks.

    Richa, Oh, I agree, 90% of the food I make tastes much better the next day. And the joy of pulling something out of the fridge and eating it within minutes...that's instant gratification!

    Seema, I'll have you know that the "poor guy" was just told by the vet that he needs to shed 3-4 pounds :D
    How are you doing, Seema?!

    Cham, Most of the time, online calculators are very convenient for conversions (just do a web search and you will find many of them). For a non-baking recipe, I just use estimates :)

    Dee, Thanks :) I could eat potatoes every day!

    Anjali, Dale wants to move in with you, he says!

    Bharti, Like you, I am not a fan of the mayo dressing either...but this is light and delicious.

    Shreya, Thank you!

    Diksha, Thanks!

    TBC, By now, I have somehow learned the cups-ounces system pretty well, and for any others, I just pull up an online conversion calculator.
    But for non-baking recipes, I personally prefer my "instinctive" cooking. I've seen recipe that call for, say, 15 ml of oil. I just don't see myself standing there with a measuring cylinder :D

    Vani, The potato salad was filling enough to be a mini-meal all by itself. I know...July just seemed to breeze right by.

    Rachel, Thanks!

    Arundathi, Thank you :)

    Zlamushka, Thank you for hosting :) This is really a fun event!

    Chronic Chick, Glad you like the yarn art. Unfortunately, I don't do link exchanges.

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  26. Fantastic post nupur! Made me smile reading about dale's tax!and ofcourse who doesnt know meeta...I call her dessert queen! or may be I havent mentioned it to her:-)but we all know she is one!

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  27. Nuper, reminds me of a fruit/veggie salad.

    grapes, cut apples,pineapple pieces can be mixed with 3/4th cooked aloo,green beans,peas.Mayo,salt and pepper are added to this and the mixture is left in the fridge overnight for a yummy sald for next morning .It also helps in the blending of the flavours!!...Lkmi

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  28. What a delicious recipe. It makes me long for summer picnics.

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