Today I have one final preview recipe from within the new One Ingredient Transformation Course to share with you. This is one of the dishes that I’ve created specifically for my 8-week healthy eating program, which is open for early-bird registration this week. The reviews so far have been fantastic and if you haven’t already, you should really go check it out 😉
I’ve always had a troubled relationship with potato salad… Back in the day, I never liked the traditional version. The mayonnaise and vinegar and eggs – it was just way too much, even when I didn’t care how healthy I was eating. Fast forward to my vegan days, and we have the same problems: heavily processed fake “veganaise” really doesn’t make things much better.
This recipe, however, changes everything. It’s proof that unprocessed cooking often results in better tasting meals. Here we have a completely One Ingredient, whole-food potato salad that gets its creaminess from blended cashews and its acidity from lemon juice, along with copious amounts of fresh herbs. It’s an incredibly flavorful and balanced bite that has everything you want from potato salad, minus the mouthful of oil.
Makes 4-6 side servings
Ingredients:
- 10 red potatoes
- 2/3 cup raw cashew
- 2/3 cup water
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 3 stalks celery
- 3 tablespoons red onion
- 2 sprigs fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons chives
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
Before starting, measure 2/3 cup raw cashews in a bowl. Cover them with several inches of water and allow them to soak and soften for at least 30 minutes, or up to 6 hours.
Step 1
Begin boiling a stockpot of water. Then, rinse and slice about 10 small red potatoes into quarters and carefully drop them into the water once it reaches a boil. Let these cook for about 15 minutes until fully softened.
Step 2
Drain the cashews of their soaking water and add them to a blender with 2/3 cup of water, 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, and a pinch or two of sea salt. Blend until completely smooth.
Step 3
Once the potatoes are fully cooked, carefully drain them through a colander and rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking process. Then, add them to a large mixing bowl with some lemon juice and a pinch of salt & pepper.
Step 4
Thinly slice 3 stalks of celery, very finely dice about 2-3 tablespoons of red onion, chop up 2-3 sprigs of fresh dill (about 2 tablespoons), and grate a tiny 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest. Then, add the cashew cream to the potatoes along with all these ingredients (celery, onion, dill, zest) and carefully mix – clean hands are the perfect tool for this job.
Step 5
Finally, cover the bowl with foil and allow to completely chill before serving with an (optional) garnish of fresh chives and a little more salt & pepper to taste.
Looks yummy. Newly vegan and not sure what to serve this salad with.
Hmm, I think it would go well with a lot of things. Someone in the comments below made it with one of my veggie burger recipes and that would be a nice pairing.
Hi Andrew,
Thanks for this. Easy, simple way to make that dressing.
One thing – in basic cooking science, root vegetables are placed in cold water and brought to the boil. Vegetables that grow above the ground go into boiling water. Wondered if you had a particular reason to do the potatoes your way. Have I missed something?
Regards,
Fran
Can you PLEASE do some cream/creamy recipes without cashews or nuts?
Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom. (Also, there is a tasty smoked salt they sell at the Spice Station in Silverlake that tastes AMAZING on vegan homemade potato salad. Just FYI)
Oooh, cool! I love Silverlake. Never been to Spice Station but I just looked up their website. An entire shop of spices?! I must go!
Thank you for this recipe. I will be making this tonight to go with your perfect veggie burger recipe I made earlier today. Works out perfectly since I just picked up red potatoes from the grocery and wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with them.
Perfect timing! 🙂 That sounds like a great pairing — I hope you liked this potato salad as much as I do 🙂
Sounds tasty. I’m not wild about tofu-based mayonnaise, so this is a great alternative.
We have a severe nut allergy in our family, so the nut-mayo is not an option for us, however there is a great new product called Just Mayo (available at mainstream grocers and on amazon.com) that is really fantastic. It tastes just like real mayo and it completely vegan. My family, vegans and non-vegans alike, find it a great alternative when we all get together for meals.
This was excellent. A crowd favorite. I was unsure that the cashew would make for a creamy enough base, but if you blend it long enough it whips up quite nice. Wow. Thank you.
sounds delicious. Am heading to the drive in movie for a picnic and am going to make this with corn added in and vegan ‘snags in blankets’.
Happy New Years =)