Cook’s notes
It’s a yoshoku (Japanized) dish — one of the many that were created and popularized in Japan after it opened its borders to Western trade and culture during the Meiji era. Along with fried dishes like tonkotsu, the Japanese gave the Western potato salad their own spin and the result is a texture-rich and highly nuanced potato salad.
You can prep the components of Japanese potato salad in any order but I do have a formula to save time. It might sound frenzied but it really is possible to prep everything almost simultaneously.
- Boil the potatoes.
- While the potatoes cook, brown the bacon (in the oven, oven toaster or air fryer).
- Salt the sliced carrot and cucumber.
- Boil the eggs.
- Drain the sweet corn kernels.
- Mash the potatoes.
- Chop the bacon.
- Squeeze the carrot and cucumber.
- Shell and roughly chop the eggs.
- Toss everything together.
Japanese potato salad
Ingredients
Potatoes
- 1 kilogram potatoes (2.2 pounds) peeled and quartered
- 2 tablespoons rock salt
Salad
- 1 small carrot
- 1 medium cucumber
- 2 teaspoons rock salt divided
- 3 rashers belly bacon
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- ⅓ to ½ cup sweet corn kernels (canned was used here) drained
- ½ cup Japanese mayo you may need more
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with tap water. Add the salt and bring to the boil.
- Cover the pot, lower the heat and simmer until soft.
- While the potatoes cook, peel the carrot, halve and thinly slice.
- Halve the cucumber and thinly slice.
- Place the carrot and cucumber in a colander, sprinkle in a teaspoon of salt and toss throughly. Set aside.
- Cook the bacon until browned and crisp.
- Boil the eggs for 10 to 12 minutes depending on how large they are then dump into a bowl of cold water.
- Scoop out the potatoes, transfer to a mixing bowl and, while hot, drizzle in the rice vinegar and mash coarsely. Cool.
- Chop the bacon.
- Squeeze the salted carrot and cucumber to remove as much water as you can.
- Roughly chop the hard-boiled eggs.
- To the cooled potatoes, add the bacon, carrot, cucumber, chopped eggs and sweet corn.
- Add the Japanese mayo, sprinkle in pepper and the remaining teaspoon of salt, and toss.
- Taste, add more salt if needed, and toss again.
- If too dry, add more Japanese mayo, two tablespoons at a time, and toss after each addition.
- Chill your Japanese potato salad well before serving.
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