Mummy's Potato Salad

My Mummy-In-Law makes the best Potato Salad that I have ever tasted. Its soft lemony, crunchy, sweet-ish and sour all at once - it just depends on what you're biting at the very minute you're eating the salad. This is how you make it.

Ingredients:

• 1kg to 1.5kg of Potatoes, peeled and cut into rather chunky pieces. Use good potatoes that are suitable for boiling - ones that don't flake too much and hold sturdy if you much about with them a lot.(Or if you live in England and can buy those lovely washed Baby New Potatoes, just boil it as it is.)

• Big red sweet onions, sliced into crescent moon shapes. I usually use 2 medium sized onions for this amount of potatoes.
• A handful pickled gherkins. Yeeaaashh, those tiny cucumber pickles.
  
• A handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley of equal amount to the above-mentioned pickles.
• Juice from a whole lemon.
• A big jar of mayonaise.
• A huge glug of olive oil.
• Salt to taste.

Instructions:

1. Boil potatoes in lightly salted water until tender enough to poke with a fork but not until it breaks (means its too soft.)
2. Drain and transfer into a bowl/tupperware with a cover. Immediately squeeze the lemon juice onto the hot potatoes.
3. Add in the onions, pickled cucumbers/gherkins, parsley,mayonaise and olive oil. Mix thoroughly. Add salt to taste.
4. Let it cool thoroughly before putting it in the fridge to cool even more (if you like Cold Cold Potato Salad).
5. You can serve it hot-ish, cool, or cold. Enjoy!
   

Here the salad is served with some grilled meat.

Chicken Rendang

Chicken Rendang (not exactly as how my Grandma makes it, but nearly there.)

• Chicken about 1kg with the bones, or 750g boneless (cut into pieces, with or without bone - your choice. I like to make it using chicken breasts. Softer, and easier to eat using cutlery. It make not look so pretty, but hey it works for me.)
  
• Coconut milk (1 can)
• Shallots (about a handful - sliced thinly, not cubed but into strands)
• Lemongrass (4-5 stalks, slicked thinly)
• Ginger (about half of the size of your palm - sliced thinly, into strands)
• Chilli Paste (I usually just use Sambal Oelek that you can find in most supermarkets nowadays - and use it as much or as little as you want)
• Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Put all ingredients in a big pot. Heat it up. Stir continuously while cooking. Continuously.
2. Before the chicken breaks into teeny wincey pieces, using thongs, pick them out and put them in a bowl and cover.
3. Continue to stir the mixture in the pot until it starts to dry up. You don't want it to burn, so stir and stir! Once it gets to 'sound' crispy in the pot (crackle, pop and sizzle) and the mixture has gotten the dark brownish red colour, return the chicken to the pot and stir.
   
4. Its ready!

Where I bought the ingredients used:
Shallots, Chicken - Umm, you can find that easily, anywhere.
Lemongrass - Kosmas deli in Thessaloniki. (Whuutt?!!? all the way up there? Yup, the bestest place to shop for food in the whole wide world, Kosmas.)
Ginger - Sklavenitis. You can find ginger in most supermarkets nowadays, but I found mine in that new big huge one in Kallithea - bought Fresh Coriander there too.
Coconut Milk - easy to find, but I usually buy mine in an Asian Wok Shop in Kifissia.
Sambal Oelek - again, from the Asian Wok Shop.
Salt - Seriously?

Maria & Antonis Dinner

Mummy IL dearest came to Athens yesterday, with her partner Antonis. Since he LOVES spicy food, I decided to make my usual successful repertoire - Chicken Rendang, Beef Rogan Josh (usually I make Vindaloo, but I didn't want his tongue to burn), Nasi Lemak, Gado-Gado Salad and Kuah Kacang Sate aka Satay Sauce ala Yinnie.



Not included in the picture is the Gado-Gado Salad and Satay Sauce. Because...... well, by the time I remembered about taking pictures, it's ALL GONE!

Enjoy the recipes. Danke.