This is my take on delicious, creamy, traditional Polish mixed vegetable salad.
This mixed vegetable salad is a staple served by Polish families around the globe for any of the holidays, birthday parties, name-day parties, and other gatherings. Every family has their own variation of the recipe, but the common ingredients are green peas, diced potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, carrots and mayonnaise. Some like it crunchier, some like it with more of “this” or none of “that”. In the US, some delis do make and sell it; and if you have a Polish deli in your neighborhood, it’s sure to carry it.
Traditionally it’s made with eggs and vegetables are smothered in egg-based mayonnaise, so even though it’s called a vegetable salad, make no mistake, it’s not a healthy salad dish that you should be eating on a daily basis.
So, here is my healthy, veganized, eggless version of this dish.
And it’s not just veganized, but also made with some raw vegetables (traditionally, mostly cooked vegetables are used) and low-fat egg-less mayo, which makes it even healthier and lower in calories (for example, you can substitute cooked potatoes with more raw veggies, such as raw zucchini.)
Mixed Vegetable Salad Recipe
The secret of a good Polish mixed vegetable salad is to have all the ingredients diced very fine, no larger than a green pea. That is certainly a lot of chopping! You can cheat by adding pre-chopped ingredients (e.g., from a can), but I don’t like to do that. Still, it’s totally worth it.
Also, you need to balance the ingredients between sweet (carrots, apple), sour (pickles), savory, crunchy (raw celery and apple and creamy (mayo).
Warning! When you follow the recipe below, you will get A LOT of salad, so get a big mixing bowl ready, or halve the ingredients.
But no worries, the great thing about salad can be kept for a couple of days in the refrigerator. Unlike many salads, especially the ones raw greens, this It tastes even better after a day or two, as the tastes of all the veggies and spices combine.
I hope you enjoy it!
Ingredients
- 4 carrots, boiled, drained and cubed
- 4 potatoes, boiled, drained and cubed
- 1 or 2 can(s) peas
- 2 large sour pickles, cubed
- 1-2 apple(s), cubed
- 2 stalks of fresh celery, diced
- 2 cups vegan mayonnaise (use more or less, depending how creamy you like it)
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1 cup vegan mayonnaise
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 parsnips
- 1 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped
- 1 cup cooked or canned drained navy beans or canned drained peas (or 1/2 cup of each) - beans will work well as substitute for potatoes).
- 1 tablespoon or more of mustard
- 1 tablespoon of horseradish
- 1 bunch chives or dill, chopped
- 1 zucchini squash, diced into small cubes (substitute half of potatoes)
Instructions
- Have a big mixing bowl ready... you will be needing it to combine all the ingredients.
- Boil carrots to medium-soft consistency. They should not be mushy, or they'll just mush up the whole dish and you'll get veggie mash instead of veggie salad. Drain, let cool, and chop into cubes, add to mixing bowl.
- At the same time, boil your potatoes. Drain and let cool, then carefully chop them into cubes. Let them cool before you chop them, otherwise the chopping will just make them fall apart. Add to mixing bowl.
- Cube all the remaining ingredients into fine pieces... not too big), pickles, apple, etc; add all to the bowl. Use whatever kind of apples you like. If not using the pickles, add more apples and some lemon juice. You can use Granny Smith, but sweet apples will work too.
- Add can of peas to the bowl. (Of course, you can boil your own, fresh peas from the pod, too!)
- Chop up the parsley (or dill), add to bowl.
- In a salad bowl toss all ingredients gently to mix and dress with mayonnaise (I like to use Veganese, but I also make my own mayo for this salad - it's super simple and much healthier than regular mayonnaise).
- You can make the presentation look prettier by using lettuce-lined platter and pour some mayonnaise over top. Decorate with a few slices of carrots, tomato wedges or radish roses or slices.
making-vegetable-salad
The making of mixed veggie salad: chopping and dicing
The salad needs to balance savory, sweet and sour taste. Without sour pickles, it’s not as good in my opinion.
Taste! Now you probably want to add more salt (if using) and pepper to to your taste (at this time, you also may decide you want more of a kick, so add more pickles, onions, apple), or you want it more savory (add more mustard), sweet (more apple), maybe you want it more creamy, so add more mayo!
Fresh Dill: I love to add fresh herbs to everything. Dill, parsley or chives will work great in this salad
Fresh Dill: I love to add fresh herbs to everything. Dill, parsley or chives will work great in this salad
Polish style mixed-vegetable-salad
When mixed well and you are happy with the flavor so far, sprinkle chopped dill or chives on top, cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. If you are so inclined, use your imagination and decorate as best you can – I’m not really good at it, but you can really make it pretty with a little effort.
When you are nice and hungry, take it out, eat it heartily with some good Polish bread or whole wheat bread (none of that fluffy white stuff for this dish), and you will have a great meal leaving you happy; guaranteed!
Salads like this are found at the cold-starter course of nearly every Polish nameday party (which are more popular than birthday parties), birthday party, wedding, Easter feast and other festive occasions. The proportions are strictly according to taste.
One final note: The proportions and ingredients are strictly according to taste. Don’t feel you cannot make this salad because you are missing some of the ingredients. You may toss into it whatever you have on hand and experiment. Enjoy!
What is this recipe called please.