It’s been a while. No excuses but it’s been so crazy that posting recipes has really fallen by the wayside. We’ve been travelling lots and the last flight home we caught Covid and so I haven’t quite got past the sense of always being behind the curve. So what pushed me to write this recipe is the simple fact that I had been looking for my faux potato salad recipe and realized I had planned to post it before but never did. I literally had the picture of the salad on a draft post and nothing else.
Anyway who doesn’t like a creamy potato salad? And I really adore how Japanese take iconic dishes and transform them into something so next level, it’s mind blowing. But on a low carb diet the potato and corn is a no-no, so I use cauliflower to substitute for the potato, and edamame beans to substitute for the corn (well to get some kind of a textural bite). This faux potato salad is great as a side dish but truth is I often make it ahead to pack for work lunches as it’s easy and doesn’t need reheating.
Anyway this salad has happy vibes for me. I remember making potato salad was one of the east things I actually knew how to cook when I was younger. I wasn’t really given the opportunity to cook in the kitchen when I was growing up and I remember my first forays included making chocolate chip cookies and brownies. But I’ve always preferred savory food and it wasn’t surprising that making potato salad was one of the simple recipes that I could make. The wonderful thing about this faux potato salad is that it not only tastes almost like the real thing, the cauliflower actually has a little sweetness to it and tastes even better than potato in my opinion.
So here’s the recipe – I hope it brings you as many happy vibes as it gave me!
Faux Japanese Potato Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
- 1/2 cup frozen edamame beans
- 1/2 Japanese cucumber
- 1/3 carrot
- 1 boiled egg
- 2 slices of ham
- 1/3 cup of Japanese mayonnaise
- 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 tsp salt (1/2 tsp for drawing out the fluid from the cucumbers and carrots and 1/4 tsp for the dressing)
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Directions
- Steam the cauliflower for 20 minutes, then drain well and set aside.
- Slice the cucumber and carrots as thin as you can, then sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt over the cucumbers and carrots. Leave it for 15 minites, then rinse under running water to get rid of the salt. Squeeze out all the liquid from the cucumber and carrots, then set aside.
- Blanch the edamame beans in boiling water, then drain and set aside.
- Chop up the boiled egg.
- Slice the ham into small pieces (about 1×2 cm pieces)
- Mix the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper together, then mix in the cauliflower, cucumber, carrots, edamame beans, egg and ham together.
- Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.
Still Feeling Peckish 