Peruvian-Style Potato Salad
My husband and I’s wedding vows were pretty traditional. Variations on the stuff about sickness and health, richer and poorer, faithfulness ’til death do we part.
What they really should have included is a clause about taking out each other’s contact lenses when habañero peppers have been touched that day (otherwise, mind-numbing ocular pain ensues).
Because that’s about as intimate as you can get to another human being, yes? Literally sticking your fingers onto somebody elses’ eyeball to grab their contact.
Obviously, this Peruvian-Style Potato Salad involves habañero peppers! This is my take on Papa a la HuancaÃna, a Peruvian dish of boiled yellow potatoes topped with a creamy and cheesy habañero-infused sauce.
It’s a dish that isn’t necessarily HOT or even spicy, but you could say it has a pleasant “warmness” to it. If you’re new to cooking with habañeros, this is the perfect dish to ease you into it!
Here, I’ve boiled a few yellow potatoes to start with. While those were cooking, I whipped up a quick no-cook sauce by blending together queso fresco (a mild Mexican cheese), garlic, evaporated milk, olive oil, lime juice and half of a habañero pepper.
The potatoes are then peeled, sliced and arranged on a serving platter lined with greens. The sauce is drizzled over, and the dish is garnished with black olives, sliced hard boiled eggs and chives.
Alternatively, the potatoes, olives and eggs could be chopped smaller and tossed together with the sauce and chives, as in a traditional American potato salad.
If you’re looking to shake things up this summer and try a different kind of potato salad, you might want to give this a try. But if you’re a contact lens wearer, just wear rubber gloves, or prepare to discover the true meaning of closeness with your spouse.
Peruvian-Style Potato Salad
Ingredients
Instructions
These sound really good, thanks for putting this up.
Simon
You and I channeled the same muse this week with our deconstructed spud salad! Love yours! In fact, I have a recipe for the same dish, taught by a Spanish-speaking cook: http://www.shockinglydelicious.com/papa-a-la-huancaina-peruvian-potato-salad/. So fun!
Yes, papa a la huancaina is so good! Sometimes I like to take all of the ingredients and just stir them all up, like a regular potato salad, too 🙂
Oh my gosh…lucky you for having someone to help with the contacts. I was making chili with a bunch of poblano peppers a few months ago…I washed my hands about 20 times afterward, cleaned under my nails, etc…but there was somehow still some remnants of heat. I way laying in bed with my eyes watering like a faucet for what seemed like forever. I use spicy peppers all the time too…d’oh!
Sounds like you and I need to split a box of rubber gloves, Katie!
To be honest, I was a little surprised myself. I got it all plated it, and thought “wow, this really looks nice!” I wasn’t expecting it, just because it’s so….yellow and beige, you know?
Whoever dreamed a potato salad could be elegant?
Is it wrong I want to eat the eggs and olives first, and then dig into the potatoes? So many favorites in this potato salad! Gorgeous!
Haha, not wrong at all, Karen! You’re welcome to dig in however you want 🙂
I love how different this salad is and the ingredients that go in it – luckily I wear glasses 🙂 Last month when I was on vacation in FL I met Isabel at a blogging seminar and she talked about how Sunday Supper got started. Love seeing your recipes Lori!
So glad you had a chance to meet Isabel, Deb. You know we’d love to have you for #SundaySupper anytime you’d like to join 🙂
This looks absolutely awesome – such a great spin on a traditional dish!
Thanks Melanie!
I love Peruvian food, what a great twist on potato salad!
Thanks Shaina! I honestly haven’t had too much other Peruvian food, but I’d love to try more.
This is such a creative recipe…and I love all the colors and flavors you have going on here. Just beautiful!
Thanks so much, Alida!
Hahahaah that contact story sounds like something with me and my future husband someday. Never heard of Peruvian potato salad, so I’m intrigued by this.
Haha thanks, Carla. Make sure you interview all possible husband candidates with “Would you be willing to stick your finger in my eye, if you needed to?”