Russian Salad
How to make Russian Salad (“Olivie”)
This is quite delicious salad and a very good side dish with everything!
Russian Salad is one of the hit salad on every party table in Russia. If I had to name the most traditional Russian dish, it would be the “Olivie” salad. It is made for holidays, parties and other special occasions. New Year’s Eve is the biggest holiday of all in Russia, and “Olivie” would be on almost all the tables as the clock would strike midnight.
There are many variations of this classic potato salad, some even without the potatoes, but this one is the main one I make at home: potatoes, peas, carrots, and mayonnaise.
Russian Salad
Ingredients
200g Davon sausage
3-4 Potatoes (boiled till al dente)
2 Carrot (boiled till al dente)
1 cup canned peas (drained)
2 Eskal Dill Cucumbers (you can find them on the shelves close to olives at any Woolworths, Coles)
1 cup Mayonnaise (I prefer SW light mayonnaise)
Black pepper and salt to taste
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Method
Cook the potatoes with the carrots in a medium pot just until tender, 20-30 min, depending on the size of the vegetables. Cook the vegetables in their skins. Peal your boiled vegetables.
Dice the vegetables, sausage into small cubes (1cm small). Dice the cucumbers in 0,5cm pieces.
In a large bowl put potatoes, carrots, peas, sausages, and cucumbers.
Put mayonnaise, black pepper, salt and a dash of olive oil in a small jar, mix well.
I like to add a little bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Some people add to it boiled eggs, apples, green onion, depends on the taste.
Sometimes I substitute Devon with boiled beef, smoked chicken breast, or no meat at all - this salad is very versatile!
To make lighter version you can use 0,5 cup of mayo and 0,5 cup of sour cream.
Mix all the ingredients and mayo gently to avoid any veggies from breaking out or mashing.
This salad is as traditional for Russians as the Thanksgiving turkey for Americans :). One of the best advantages of making a big batch of “Olivie” is the leftovers the next day. I find that this salad tastes even better the next day.
So, here it is my Russian Salad.
ENJOY!
p.s
Just like most potato salads, Russian “Olivie” is made ahead of time. Sometimes, I prep, boil, cut all the ingredients and store them in an air tight container in the refrigerator and then add the mayonnaise mix a few hours before serving.
RSS
