Korea, like Japan, has their own versions of potato salad, and they’re delicious. Today’s recipe is a different take on the mashed-style of gamja salad you may have had at Korean restaurants.
This version, besides not being mashed, uses sour cream as a dressing, to very good effect. It feels less heavy than a mayo version, and the bacon, English mustard and raw garlic give it a distinct flavor.
Gamja salad is easy to make, and it goes with anything traditional American potato salad does, including the stunningly delicious Korean meatloaf recipe I’ll be posting next week.
This recipe is based on one from the superb K Food cookbook.
What you’ll need
- 2 lbs. new potatoes
- 1T kosher salt
- 4 slices bacon, finely chopped
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 cup sour cream (in this case you could get away with using “lite” sour cream)
- 1t English or another type of spicy mustard
- A pinch of pepper
- 2 small garlic cloves, minced
What to do
Prep the potatoes by cutting each in half, unless they’re really tiny. Bring a large saucepan of water to a rolling boil before adding the potatoes. Reduce the heat to a rapid simmer and cook for about 15 minutes. The potatoes are done when they can be easily pierced by a fork. Drain and rinse the cooked potatoes with cold water before letting them cool in a large bowl.
While the potatoes are cooking and cooling, cook the bacon bits in a frypan over medium heat until they’re slightly crispy and the fat is rendered. Remove from the heat when done and set aside.
Now for the final assembly: Add the bacon to the bowl of potatoes, including the rendered fat. If there’s a lot of fat, maybe include only half of it. Mix in the bacon and then add all the remaining ingredients thoroughly mixing them in, as well. Gamja salad is best served at room temperature.
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