How to Make Japanese Potato Salad: The Basic Recipe and Tips for Getting It Right

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Japanese potato salad depends on two things: drying the boiled potatoes, and seasoning them with vinegar and salt while they are hot. Here is a basic recipe for two servings with ham and vegetables, along with tips for getting it right.

How to Make Japanese Potato Salad: The Basic Recipe and Tips for Getting It Right

Ingredients (Serves 2)

2 floury potatoes (about 300 g)
1/2 Japanese or small cucumber
1/4 onion
1/3 carrot
2 slices ham
1 tbsp vinegar
1/3 tsp salt (for seasoning the potatoes)
1/3 tsp salt (for salting the cucumber and onion)
4 tbsp mayonnaise
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Cut the vegetables and ham

Peel the potatoes and cut them into bite-size pieces, rinse them in water, and drain. Slice the cucumber into thin rounds and the onion thinly. Halve the carrot lengthwise and slice it thinly. Halve the ham and cut it into 1 cm strips.

2. Salt the cucumber and onion

Put the cucumber and onion in a bowl, add 1/3 tsp salt, rub it in, and leave for 10 minutes. Rinse with water and squeeze out the liquid.

3. Cook the carrot

Put the carrot in a microwave-safe dish, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and microwave at 600 W for 1 minute.

4. Boil the potatoes

Put the potatoes in a pot with enough water to cover and set it over the heat. Once it boils, lower the heat and cook for about 10 minutes, until a skewer slides through easily.

5. Dry the potatoes

Pour off the water, return the potatoes to the pot, and set it over medium-low heat. Shake the pot until the surface moisture has cooked off.

6. Season while hot

Move the potatoes to a heatproof bowl. While they are hot, add the vinegar and 1/3 tsp salt and mash them in. Leave until no longer hot.

7. Mix

Add the cucumber, onion, carrot and ham to the cooled potatoes. Add the mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and mix well.

Tips for Getting It Right

Start the potatoes in cold water

Bringing the potatoes slowly up from cold water brings out their sweetness. Because they are cut first, they need only about 10 minutes of boiling.

Dry the potatoes after boiling

Cooking off the moisture in the pot gives the potatoes a light, fluffy texture.

Season while the potatoes are warm

Potatoes take on seasoning well while warm. Add the vinegar and salt as you mash, not after they have cooled.

Add the mayonnaise last

Add the mayonnaise together with the other ingredients, once the potatoes are no longer hot.

Refrigerate after making

Do not leave the finished salad at room temperature for long. Put it in a shallow container in the refrigerator and eat it soon.

If Something Goes Wrong

The salad is watery. The potatoes were not dried enough, or the cucumber and onion were not squeezed enough. Do not skip drying the potatoes in the pot, and squeeze the salted vegetables well.

The potatoes are hard to mash. They are underdone or have cooled. Boil them until a skewer slides through easily, and mash them while hot.

The flavor is too mild. Taste at the end and adjust with salt and pepper or more mayonnaise.

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