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Balsamic Potatoes

Last year, I bought this book called Vegetarian Cuisines of the World by Asha Khatau. The book, with a section each on most popular cuisines, has clearly been written for someone living in India. There are no silly instructions like "go to your nearest supermarket and find a carton of sour cream" or "now we need a pound of fresh raspberries". There are, no doubt, ingredients you need to hunt the grocery stores for but there are also helpful hints on what you can exclude or substitute. All of which makes it perfect for AWED.

So when DK announced AWED Italiano, I promptly turned to the Italian section and picked Balsamic Potato Salad. Why not a pasta or a pizza - my beloved staples? For as far as I am concerned, Balsamic Vinegar remains Italy's biggest contribution to the world. They have no right to call this sweet gem from Modena a vinegar. It's just in a class of its own!



Before you make the salad, make sour cream. You need 1/2 cup of thick yogurt - tying it in a cloth and leaving it to drain for an hour will help. Mix the yogurt with 1/4 cup fresh cream and 1 tbsp lemon juice. This will give you a bit more sour cream than you need for the salad but I am sure you can find other uses for it. I did!

Boil 300 gms baby potatoes until they are tender. Drain the potatoes and remove the skins. To make balsamic dressing whisk 1/2 cup sour cream with 1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1/2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper until everything is blended into a coffee color paste. Stir in a finely chopped onion and 2 finely chopped celery sticks (reserve a bit of onion & celery for the garnish).

Add the dressing to the potatoes and gently toss to coat. Sprinkle with reserved onions and celery and top with pine nuts if you have them. I didn't, but I had pistachios and they made a lovely match for the potatoes.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow...lovely dish! Looks great!
Anonymous said…
Yummy potatoes!!! The dressing is what I guess, makes them different and tasty!!!
Bharti said…
I lurve balsamic too! And I've never tried mixing sour cream and balsamic. Nice idea.
Anonymous said…
Anything in balsamic would taste so good! The potatoes look yummy :-)
TBC said…
I agree with everything u say about balsamic vinegar.:D I just love it! What a lovely recipe!
Rachel said…
That would be perfect for me..
Siri said…
Yummy looking potatoes Divya..:)

Hugs,
Siri
This is really nice. Viva Italiana!
I'm going to check that book out too.
jayasree said…
potatoes looks very yummy in the balsamic dressing..
notyet100 said…
such a nice recipe,..
Srivalli said…
thats a lovely dish simran...never tried with balsamic..and usually don't take potatoes, if not as french fries..but this sounds great!
Hi Simran, first time to your blog...you have such nice recipes here. Love this one, just because I love sour cream. Thanks for the recipe!
Unknown said…
Oh wow! This is fabulous. Never thought of using balsamic with potatoes. Excellent recipe and promptly bookmarked to try.

Thanks for sending them my way :)


DK
(culinarybazaar.blogspot.com)
lubnakarim06 said…
Looks gr8. Never tried it out. Now i got the recipe iam gonna try it for sure. Nice pic also.
SMM said…
Hey stumbled across your blog....in office eating thanda dabba khana n trying to satisfy my tummy looking at the lovely recipes and picture son your blog.I shall certainly try some of these.

Btw the Russian magazine that you have referred to in your previous pst, was that the Quest magazine by chance?
Anonymous said…
The Russian magazine was Misha. Some roving salesman sold papa a subscription and we read it for, gosh, years.
some ppl are heavily into experimenting these days haan... :) they look so tempting re...

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