Herbed Potato and Pomegranate Salad

Herbed Potato and Pomegranate Salad

My first blog post of the year. Can’t believe it’s 2015! Hope it started well for all of you, guys. We celebrated the arrival of the New Year with lots of delicious food, drinks, karaoke songs, laughter—with our family friends. A total of 14 families gathered at a friend’s house and every single family brought at least two kinds of foods. Imagine the delicious spread on the table. It turned me into a glutton for the day. Luckily, the following day I chose to stick with my resolution to eat in moderation and to go back to exercising. Most of us at the party had a similar resolution. I wish us all good luck.

Herbed Potato and Pomegranate Salad

Anyway. I got carried away. Back to the New Year’s Eve table. My contribution to the party was this delicious potato salad (plus another salad I will tell you about in the next post) speckled with fresh herbs and fresh, juicy pomegranate arils. As the author of “Pomegranates and Saffron,” I felt the “pressure” to make something with pomegranates and so I did. Turned out great! Dressed with nothing more than olive oil and lemon juice. How do you like the idea? It got instantly party-approved. While pomegranate season is still around, try making this salad. Instant approval of all taste-testers guaranteed. Enjoy!

Herbed Potato and Pomegranate Salad

Serves about 6

Note: This salad yields itself to slight modification/adjustments. You can increase or decrease the amount of pomegranate arils or fresh herbs; use cilantro in place of parsley; increase or decrease olive oil, lemon juice, sumac, and hot red pepper, to taste.

Ingredients

6 medium-size potatoes (do not peel)
1 small red onion, peeled, cut crosswise, and thinly sliced
Chopped mixed fresh herbs (be generous)—dill, parsley, mint, green onions (both white and green parts)
About 1/3 cup fresh pomegranate arils (adjust to taste)
1/4 teaspoon sumac
Salt
Ground black pepper
Crushed hot red pepper
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 small lemon

Directions

Wash the potatoes and boil in a saucepan filled with water, until tender. Drain and set aside. When cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes and cut into medium-size cubes. Place in a large mixing bowl.

Separately, place the onion in a small bowl. Sprinkle  some salt on top. Leave for a few minutes, then  gently squeeze to extract the bitter juices (this way the onion will taste mellow and won’t be too “noticeable” in the salad). Add the onion to the bowl with potatoes. Also add the fresh herbs,  pomegranate arils, sumac, and salt, black pepper, and red pepper, to taste.

Separately whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice. Pour over the salad. Gently stir the salad to mix, taking care not to break the pomegranate arils. Serve immediately or slightly chilled (flavors develop better when the salad rests in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving).

Herbed Potato and Pomegranate Salad

4 Comments

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  1. Feride, you have perfected the art of photographing a pomegranate!
    Thank you so much for all of your pomegranate salad recipes! They have become household favorites 🙂
    My husband (from Baku) says he’s never had pomegranate in his salads before. Are they your own invention, or are there truly salads in Azeri cuisine that include pomegranate?

    • Thank you, dear Mariya. Glad you like my pomegranate pictures and recipes. The potato salad that has mayonnaise in it, with pomegranates, is not my invention. They make it in Baku. But this one, posted here, is my interpretation of a Turkish herbed-potato salad dressed with olive oil. My addition is the abundance of herbs and pomegranates, to give the salad an interesting twist. Thank you. Enjoy!

  2. Loved your salad! It was so easy but at the same time delicious. It was like spring is coming, guys!!! :))

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