Put aside the mayo and make these spicy riffs on the classic summer salad: chaat and yoghurt, spicy peanut butter, and baked chips with whipped tofu.
We are a family of potato lovers, so a summer salad made of tender spuds bound together with something creamy, something acidic and a handful of herbs is a perennial favourite. While I would never throw a classic out of bed, every now and then I like to swerve the mayonnaise and do something a little more exuberant. Today's potato salads are a riot of texture and flavour, and pack a serious punch. They are satisfying enough on their own, but serve them at your next barbecue and you are bound to please the potato pleasure-seekers in your life.
Potato chaat salad with yoghurt (pictured top)
You can find nylon sev in good Indian supermarkets or online, but if you can't get hold of any, fistfuls of your favourite bombay mix will do just fine.
- Prep: 10 min
- Cook: 30 min
- Serves: 4
For the date and tamarind chutney
- 5 tbsp tamarind paste
- 4 medjool dates, pitted
- 1 heaped tbsp soft brown sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp chilli powder, or to taste
- 1 tsp cumin, toasted and coarsely ground
- 1 tsp chaat masala
- Black salt (kala namak), to taste (optional)
For the salad
- 500g jersey royals
- Sea salt and black pepper
- 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 200g natural yoghurt
- 1 handful nylon sev, or good-quality bombay mix or sev mamra
- 1 small red onion, peeled and cut into very thin rings
- 1 handful finely chopped coriander
- Seeds from ½ pomegranate
First make the quick chutney. Put the tamarind paste, dates and 300ml water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook until the dates are tender. Take off the heat, leave to cool, then puree. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon, chilli, cumin, chaat masala and kala namak, if using. The chutney should have a thick, pouring consistency a bit like ketchup, so add more water if required. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
Chop the potatoes into bite-sized pieces, then boil in salted water until tender. Drain, leave to cool completely, then arrange the potatoes on a platter. Scatter over the drained chickpeas, season with sea salt and pepper, and mix. Drizzle over the date and tamarind chutney, dollop on the yoghurt here and there and top with the sev, onion rings, coriander and pomegranate seeds. Serve at once.
Spicy peanut butter potato salad
The spicy peanut sauce is very adaptable. If you prefer, use any nut or seed butter, such as cashew, almond, sunflower or even tahini instead. It also works poured over noodles and crunchy vegetables for a tasty lunch.
- Prep: 15 min
- Cook: 15 min
- Serves: 4
For the peanut dressing
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
- 100g smooth peanut butter
- 30g palm sugar, or light brown sugar
- 1-2 red chillies
- Juice of 2 limes
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp tamarind paste
For the salad
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 500g new potatoes, halved and boiled until tender
- 1 handful picked coriander leaves
- 100g radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
- 1 banana shallot, peeled and sliced into very fine rings
- 2 tbsp pickled jalapeños
- 40g salted peanuts, roughly crushed
Put all the dressing ingredients in a blender and blitz smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning, making sure the acidity of the lime sings through, then set aside until needed; before serving, add a little water to loosen, if need be, especially if you've kept it in the fridge.
Now for the salad. Heat the sesame oil in a large frying pan and, once it's hot, put in the potatoes cut side down in a single layer and cook for about five minutes, until crisp and dark golden brown.
Spread the peanut butter dressing on a platter, then top with the hot potatoes. Scatter over the picked coriander, sliced radishes, shallots, chillies and peanuts, and serve immediately.
Oven fries with whipped tofu and chilli dressing
Golden chips straight out of the oven, cool whipped tofu and tongue-tingling homemade chilli oil all get along famously in this tasty ménage à trois.
- Prep: 10 min
- Drain: 30 min
- Cook: 1 hr
- Serves: 4-6
For the whipped tofu
- 300g silken tofu
- A few drops of sesame oil
- Juice of ½ lime
- Sea salt
For the chilli oil
- 5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 tbsp crispy shallots (optional)
- 80g gochugaru, or other mild chilli flakes
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 tsp roughly crushed Sichuan peppercorns
- 5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly sliced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 125ml avocado oil, or other neutral oil
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Chinese black vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
To garnish
- 6 spring onions, trimmed, whites and greens sliced thinly on the diagonal
Put the tofu on a rack, cover with kitchen paper and place a weight on it for half an hour to extract some of the excess liquid. Break up the tofu, put in a food processor with the sesame oil, lime juice and some sea salt, and blend smooth.
Bake the oven fries according to the packet instructions. Meanwhile, make the chilli oil. Combine the garlic, shallots, if using, chilli flakes, sesame seeds and peppercorns in a heatproof bowl. Put the ginger, cinnamon stick and star anise in a small saucepan, pour over the oil, then set over a medium heat and cook until the oil has almost reached smoking point and the spices and ginger are sizzling. Carefully pour the oil through a sieve into the heatproof bowl (discard the aromatic solids) and stir well. Once the chilli oil has cooled a little, stir in the soy, vinegar and sugar until the latter dissolves.
Spread the tofu on a platter, scatter the hot chips on top, then spoon over chilli oil to taste. Scatter over spring onions and serve straight away.