Forget What You Know About Potato Salad & Try This Herby Turmeric Take

This flavorful take on the classic staple salad packs a flavorful, anti-inflammatory punch with turmeric and fresh herbs.

Kass

Jan 21, 2025 - 21:02

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Forget What You Know About Potato Salad & Try This Herby Turmeric Take

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Food Writer

By Sally Butcher

Food Writer

Sally Butcher is the fiery-haired proprietress of the notable Persian food store Persepolis in London, and the author of five cookbooks. Her most recent title is Veganistan: A Vegan Tour Of The Middle East.

Image by Cameron Whitman / Stocksy

January 21, 2025

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Potato salad gets a pretty bad rap on the whole, which is a shame really as potatoes are a great vehicle for really punchy dressings. As with so many culinary sins, I blame the '70s. Mayo. Peas. Jeez—you could even buy potato salad in a can...

Anyway, this is a completely different ballgame.

Serves 6 as a side

Ingredients

2 lb (900 g) salad potatoes, washedpinch of ground turmeric2 onions, finely sliced2 x 14-oz (40-g) cans cooked butter beans, drained and rinsed5½ oz (150 g) pitted olives (preferably black)6 garlic cloves½ bunch fresh mint, washed, roughly cut2 sprigs fresh tarragon, washed, roughly cut¾ cup (100 g) sunflower seeds½ cup (120 ml) lemon juice1 level tsp cracked black pepperabout ½ cup (120 ml) extra-virgin olive oilsea salt

Method

Cut the potatoes (skin and all) into ¾-in (2-cm) cubes and cover them with water in a pot: Add a pinch of salt and the turmeric and bring to a boil.Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked. Rinse under cold running water until the potatoes are coolish, drain well, and tip into a bowl.Add the onions, beans, and olives.Place the garlic, herbs, sunflower seeds, lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt, and the pepper in your blender and mix for about a minute. Check the herbs haven't clumped—if they have; pull them apart and blend them again.Turn the machine on and trickle in the olive oil so it forms a pretty pale-green emulsion: This is your tarator sauce. Check the seasoning and then stir it into the potato mixture.

On the importance of using the right potato

The clue is in the name really. Salad potatoes. They are firm and waxy and withstand all that tossing around in sauce. There is nothing wrong with a smashed potato salad of course, but for this particular dish, you want your potatoes to keep their integrity.

So, with the dumbing down of supermarket shopping (what in God's name is an "easy peeler," for example? What on earth happened to calling a clementine a clementine, and a mandarin a mandarin?) you will probably be able to waltz in and buy a generic "salad potato," but given the luxury of variety and choice, I would always opt for fingerling potatoes, which remain delightfully creamy and have a ton of flavor in their own right.