Shredded Potato Salad
Made with just a few ingredients and can be prepared in less than 15 minutes, this Shredded Potato Salad is a common comfort food for Northern Chinese families. The dish delivers a surprisingly crunchy texture that you hardly identify with a potato. While potato is often thought of as a heavy and starchy food, this salad version is perfectly light and refreshing. Give it a try!
Before all sorts of vegetables became abundant year round, the Winter days during my childhood were filled with Potatoes and Napa vegetables in Northern China. This dish is usually called a '“Jia-Chang” dish, “Jia” means home, and “Chang’ means frequent, together meaning “frequently home-cooked”. There are countless ways of cooking potatoes in many cultures, steamed, boiled, baked, fried, served hot and cold, but this shredded version is unique.
The essence of this dish is to create crunchiness by washing away the starch of the potatoes after shredding. The most critical skill lies in the cutting of potatoes. Shredding is similar to the julienne cut in French cuisine. A small difference between the two is that shredding does not require the vegetables to be cut into squared ends first. It follows the natural shape of the vegetable to first cut into very thin slices, then cut the slices into thin pieces. The pointy ends of each piece give the dish some lightness and playfulness that contrasts the potato’s original form. A sharp knife is a must in shredding and the rest is all about practice. For beginners, there are other options of using a shredder instead. It will result in a less crunchy texture compared to shredding with a knife, but don't let knife skill stop you from trying to make this dish. Use whatever tools that work for you and keep practicing!
Often Chinese shredded potatoes are stir-fried and seasoned sour and spicy, which goes perfectly with steamed rice. But in this salad version, the shredded potatoes are quickly blanched then ice bathed immediately before adding a small amount of oil and other flavours. This gives the dish a cleaner and milder taste that can be served as an appetiser or salad, also a healthier choice.
History of Shredded Potatoes
The cutting method of shredding was documented in Chinese writings as early as around 600 A.D., the Tang Dynasty. It was first used to prepare raw fish. Nowadays, shredding of ingredients is common in preparing stir-fried Chinese dishes, in which timing and high heat are essential to quickly cook the ingredients and preserve their natural flavours. The knife skill of shredding takes years of practice to master. Among Chinese Chefs, the ones who specialise in "Huai Yang cuisine” (Huai Yang is a region along the Yangtze River of China before it reaches Shanghai and the Pacific Ocean.) are best known for this knife skill as demonstrated by famous dishes from this region. Potatoes were originally grown in South America, then spread to Europe and thus globally. Potatoes were first written in Chinese books before the 1600s. But it took another 200 years to create the dish of Shredded Potatoes. Historically the dish never made it to the restaurant tables, as potato was not considered a delicacy. The dish however was popularised on family tables since potatoes are cheap and easy to grow.
Health Benefits of Potatoes
Potato is often wrongly understood as a vegetable that contributes to weight gain since it's full of starch and very filling. While these are true, on the contrary, potato contributes to weight loss as it keeps you full longer, thus a great substitute for rice or flour products. It is also packed with a long list of other nutrients like Vitamin C, Magnesium, Potassium, Vitamin B6. Substantial Potassium is vital to prevent strokes and high blood pressure. In Chinese medicines, potatoes are described to nurture the stomach and spleen, aiding the digestive system. Coupled with its natural lack of cholesterol, fat and gluten, we probably should consume potatoes more often. But some recipes call for a large amount of oil or fat to prepare the vegetable, like French Fries or Mashed Potato, making it less healthy.
Cooking Tips
Shredding: This seems intimidating if you are not familiar with using a knife. Take up the challenge and try. It doesn’t have to be perfectly thin and even to deliver the taste. Using a sharp knife is the number 1 rule to prevent unwanted injuries is to use a sharp knife.
Put a wet kitchen cloth underneath the cutting board to prevent it from slipping.
Cut a thin slice off the long side of the potato, creating a flat surface.
Use the flat surface as the bottom to stabilise the potato.
Cover the top of the potatoes with 4 fingers (other than the thumb) like a clamp.
The section from the finger tips to first joints create a surface against the flat side of the blade. Fingertips are slightly bend in to avoid from touching the blade. The thumb holds the potato from the side or behind to support stabilisation. Maintain the hand position after each cut and move away from the blade little by little. The move determines the thickness of the slices. The knife hand follows the move that the flat side of the blade is always placed against the first joints before cutting. The sharp edge of the blade never touches the fingertips.
When the remaining potato becomes too small to slice and difficult to hold in place, either try to rotate it to find a more stable position or toss it aside for other uses, like in soup stocks. Let the slices fall naturally on the cutting board. They are laid on top of each other like a ribbon spread of poker cards. Adjust neatly if needed.
After slicing, place the hand at the beginning of the ribbon spread, cut again with the same hand positions and movements described above to cut into shreds.
Removing starch after shredding: Wash the shredded potatoes inside a bowl. Wash gently to avoid breaking the thin pieces. The water quickly becomes opaque as starch leaves potatoes and goes into water. Pour the opaque water away. Repeat the process 3 times until the water becomes clear.
Blanching: Do not over boil. Prepare enough water to cover the washed potatoes in a deep cooking pot. Put the potatoes in only after water boils. Change to medium heat and boil the potatoes for 3 mins. with lid uncovered. Turn off heat when water starts to simmer again. I always taste to make sure it’s cooked first. If potatoes are shredded thinly, the pieces will be cooked quickly. Overboiling reduces the crunchiness of the dish.
Ice bath: After blanching, quickly run the shredded potatoes through running water to stop further cooking. Fill up a pot with water and put in ice cubes to prepare ice bath. The water needs to cover the shredded potatoes. Soak for 5 mins. Ice bath further preserves the crunchiness of the potatoes. Drain well afterwards.
Shredded Potato Salad
Servings of 4
Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Ingredients
2 medium sized potatoes (size of a large avocado)
2 small cloves of garlic
Small amount of green pepper (optional, this is for adding colors mainly)
15-20 pcs of Chinese peppercorn (omit if you can’t find it; Black peppercorn or White peppercorn are not suggested as substitutes.)
2 pcs whole dried chilli (optional, omit or add more depends on your level of spiciness. Alternatively use chilli flakes, which can be sprinkled directly on the salad as last touch.)
5g (1 tsp) salt
45mL (3 tbsp) oil
30mL (2 tbsp) rice vinegar (can also substitute with white distilled vinegar)
6g (1 1/2 tsp) sugar
5 mL (1 tsp) sesame oil
Equipment
Cutting board and knife
Wet kitchen cloth
A deep cooking pot for blanching
Garlic press (optional)
Colander or strainer
Vegetable washing bowl
Peeler
Frying pan
Salad bowl
Chopsticks or salad fork
Steps
Mise en Place.
1. Wash the vegetables clean: potatoes, green pepper, garlic.
2. Peel potatoes, rinse and dry before cutting.
3. Pour water into a deep cooking pot up to ⅔ full. Bring water to a boil on high heat. (If water boils before cutting is finished, put it on low heat to simmer.)
4. Meanwhile, shred the potatoes (refer to Cooking Tips above). Alternatively use shredder if cutting by knife is too difficult for you.
5. Rinse 3 times to wash away potato starch (refer to Cooking Tips above). Drain before blanching.
6. Slice a couple of thin pieces of the Green pepper. Shred it like the potatoes.
7. Put the shredded potatoes into boiling water. Blanch on medium to high heat for 3 mins. Don’t overcook (refer to cooking tips).
8. Once blanched, use a colander to take out the shredded potatoes and put it under running water to quickly stop further cooking. Then give the potatoes an ice bath for 5 -10 minutes.
9. Blanch the shredded green pepper in the same pot of water for 30 seconds. Boiling too long makes the bright green dull. Quickly rinse with water.
10. Add shredded pepper to the ice bath bowl too.
11. Drain the ice-bathed potatoes and green pepper well. Too much residual water will dilute the seasonings later. Transfer into a salad bowl to add other ingredients. First add peeled and pressed garlics, then salt. I used a garlic presser, you can also mince garlics with a cutting knife.
12. Heat up a frying pan on medium-high heat. Wait patiently till the pan becomes very hot, turn the heat to low and pour in oil. Add Chinese peppercorns and dried chillis (lightly break with hand or whole) to the oil. Roast about 1-2 minutes on low heat. Low heat is ideal to release fragrances without burning it. Turn heat off once you can smell the aroma. Roasting too long will turn the chilis black with burnt smell. If you use chilli flakes, instead of putting it in oil, just sprinkle on top of the salad at the end.
13. Use a colander to directly drain the hot oil over garlic and salt. Chinese peppercorns leave strong numbing sensation in the mouth when bitten that you may not want to leave them in the salad. You should be able to hear sizzling sound if oil is hot enough. Hot oil over garlic or scallion, or ginger and salt is a common Chinese cooking method to extract maximum flavour without overcooking the ingredients. It is also preferred to splash hot oil over just salt before other seasonings, like vinegar & sugar are added. I left a few pieces of dried chilli inside to add a dash of red colour. It’s optional.
14. Add the rest of the ingredients, vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil. Mix with a chopsticks or fork. Taste to adjust amount of seasoning.
To Serve
Transfer to a plate or just serve directly in the salad bowl. The pale yellow of the shredded potatoes is topped with the bright green colour. Refreshing and clean combination of colours, just like how the dish tastes!
