Potato Salad ("Rasols")There are as many variants of this as there are Latvians! Therefore, I have designated a lot of items as "optional" which many a Latvian cook would deem "essential".This salad is always much better on the second, or even third, day. If you are able, it is always better to make it a day ahead of time, and let it "marinate" in the fridge in its salad dressing, at least overnight.Potato salad ingredients
| 6 potatoes |
| 6 eggs |
| 6 pickles |
| 6 pickled beets, or equivalent in sliced pickled beets (optional) |
| 1 apple (optional) |
Salad dressing ingredients
| 3 large dollops | mayonaise (Hellman's, if possible) | |
| 1 - 2 large dollops | sour cream | |
| 1 - 3 teaspoons | mustard | 5 - 15 ml |
| 1 - 3 teaspoons | vinegar | 5 - 15 ml |
| ¼ - ½ teaspoon | salt | 1 - 2 ml |
| ¼ teaspoon | pepper | 1 ml |
| 1 teaspoon | Worcestershire sauce | 5 ml (optional) |
Boil potatoes until fairly soft (but not until they are falling apart). Hard boil eggs. Remove skins from potatoes, and shells from eggs. Dice into fairly large chunks (about ½ inch (1 - 1.5 cm) in diameter). Dice optional ingredients into smaller pieces. Put all diced ingredients into a very large bowl.Make salad dressing. Start with smaller amounts, and keep adding sour cream, vinegar, mustard, etc. until it tastes good to you. The salad dressing should taste somewhat salty and tart.Add salad dressing to diced ingredients. Stir well. Cover. Refrigerate at least overnight.Serves 6 - 8. This is a German- and Russian-inspired recipe, but I think it tastes better than either!
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