Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Down-Home Upper-Midwest Vegan Potato Salad

OK, so here it is. Finally, the potato salad recipe.

Like I've said before, if you grew up eating omnivore potato salad and you want a (cholesterol free) blast from the past, make this. It has pot-luck written all over it.

Down-Home Upper-Midwest Vegan Potato Salad

* 5 lbs. red potatoes, chopped (about thumbnail-sized cubes ... if your thumbs are sort of big)
* 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped (I use a chopper)
* 4 stalks celery, chopped (I use the chopper on these too, but that's because I don't like big crunchy things in my potato salad)
* 2 1/2 cups soy mayonnaise (I used Vegenaise)
* 4 tablespoons plain yellow mustard
* 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
* 1 block firm silken tofu, cut to rectangular pieces (to simulate chunks of eggs)
* 2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
-Boil chopped potatoes for 20 minutes or until soft, but not crumbly.
-Let potatoes cool to room temperature (or if you don't have time, at least let them cool to where they're not steaming anymore).
-Gently mix all ingredients except tofu (you don't want the potatoes to crumble or get mashed).
-Gently fold in tofu pieces.
-Let it all cool down in the fridge.
-Sprinkle paprika on top to taste before serving.

-

And there it is. I'm not one to brag, but every single person who has tasted this has commented that it's good.

In short, I'm awesome.

But to give partial credit where partial credit's due - my recipe was adapted from this one. I sort of doubled it (because it keeps really good in the fridge and you can never have too much potato salad) and made it a bit more Upper Midwest. (Spicy mustard? How many of your grandmas ever used spicy mustard in their potato salad?! I mean really.)

I considered taking a photo of the potato salad and posting it with the recipe, but it just looks like regular old potato salad. Who hasn't seen potato salad?

OK, now you can make it. Enjoy!

Oh, and for those of you who didn't grow up in the Upper Midwest of the United States of America, if you make this let me know what you think. I'm curious what an "outsider" would make of it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It certainly sounds awesome! (ps, it's okay to brag, the rest of us do it often enough!).

Anonymous said...

Do you cook the tofu at all?

Al said...

The silken tofu doesn't need to be cooked (and shouldn't be). I'm talking about this stuff: http://www.morinu.com/product/tofu.html#1

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the real deal. My mom would have added some sweet pickle relish or some juice from the pickle jar, though. I'm not from the upper midwest, but both of my parents were. In fact, I'm probably related to you. My dad was raised on a homestead near Mt. Carmel. Sound familiar?

Al said...

Anon, that sounds VERY familiar. My dad and mom were both raised on farmsteads near Mt. Carmel. In fact, I was just there for a family reunion a few weeks ago.

So now I have to know what your name is. If you're between the ages of 20 and 50, I can almost guarantee my parents knew your dad.

Feel free to email me at thislittlepiggyhadtofu (at) gmail (dot) com if you don't want to post it on this comment thread.