A hearty salad all year round.

My parents are Czech with German ancestry. I have fond memories growing up with my mum’s never-ending bowl of potato salad. She made this salad often during summer and served it cold as an accompaniment during Christmas dinners or when we had BBQs. Mum would often slave away for an hour or two finely dicing all ingredients. She’d make so much of it, she often mixed it in the sink! While her potato salad is an institution, mum’s version is slightly different to this one but with very similar ingredients. What I love about this warm german potato salad is it’s really filling and packed with flavour. This makes it perfect for a main meal rather than as an accompaniment.

This salad contains a range of wonderful and flavoursome ingredients. I’ve adapted a more traditional recipe into one that suits our family best. Make sure you use plain kransky sausages and not the cheese kransky versions. The dill cucumbers (gherkins), sour cream and lemon juice give this recipe a nice tang. Please not miss the dill out. It adds a wonderful flavour that you can only get from fresh dill. The dried version just doesn’t do this meal justice. There are bold flavours that my family, including my two daughters, absolutely love.

Kartoffel is German for Potato

The humble potato wasn’t always eaten in Germany. It made its way there from South America via Spain. The first potatoes were planted in Germany in the mid 1500’s. For many years, it was something only the peasants grew on their land and ate as cheap sustenance. At first, Germans thought this was a truffle as it was dug out of the ground like one. This is why the German name for potato is Kartoffel sounds like the Italian word for truffles, Tartufolo. (source: The Kitchen Project) a

A “warm German potato salad” is called this in Germany. They just know it as just a “warm potato salad”. It’s when this salad made its way to other countries that it became known as this. In order to keep to my ancestral heritage, I’ve decided to just call this a warm potato salad.

Warm Potato Salad

This salad recipe has been adapted slightly from a traditional warm German potato salad. As it's filling and substantial, you can have it as a main meal rather than as a side. Packed with bold flavours, you'll find this salad will satisfy.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Servings 6 serves

Ingredients

 

• 1 kg potatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled with ends cut
• 300 g Kransky sausage, chopped into rounds
• 4 Eggs, boiled, peeled and cut into slices
• 2 large dill cucumbers, coarsely diced
• 420 g canned peas, drained
• 1/4 cup dill, coarsely chopped
• 60 g baby spinach

Mayonnaise Dressing

• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 3 teaspoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 2 teaspoons horseradish cream, optional
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Cook the potato in a large saucepan of boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well.
• Meanwhile, cook the Kransky sausage in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.
• Cook the eggs in a saucepan of boiling water for 10 minutes for hard-boiled or until cooked to your liking. Cool the eggs under cold water, then peel. Using an egg slicer, chop into rounds.
• Place potato, sausage, egg, carrots, peas, dill cucumber, baby spinach and chopped dill in a bowl. Stir to combine.
• In a small bowl mix together mayonnaise, sour cream and lemon juice until combined. Add to the salad and gently mix through until ingredients are combined.
• Drizzle the creamy mayo over the potato mixture in the bowl and gently toss to combine. Serve while warm.

Notes

• Other optional ingredients include cooked bacon, baby capers, chopped fresh parsley and diced red onion.
• The horseradish cream is optional in the mayonnaise dressing but if you have this available, do add it in. This gives a bit of a bite to the dressing itself which goes really well with the potatoes.