Mandarin Potato Salad with Cellophane Noodles

From Susanna Foo Fresh Inspiration: New Approaches to Chinese Cuisine by Susanna Foo with Hermie Kranzdorf (Houghton Mifflin, 2005). © 2005 by Susanna Foo.

Serves 6-8

Still popular in northern China, this salad is nothing like heavy American potato salad: there's no mayonnaise, for one thing. The potatoes are lightly blanched so they keep their crispy texture. When mixed with the airy cellophane noodles, sesame oil, and vinegar, they make a light and tasty salad--a great companion to grilled meat or poultry. I like it at room temperature, but it's also good cold.

Note that you could cook the potatoes and carrot in the same pot of boiling water you use for the noodles, but not the other way around; the potatoes give off starch, so the water would be too gluey for the noodles.

• 2 ounces (1 skein) thin cellophane noodles, prepared and cooked
• 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch-long julienne
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into 2-inch-long julienne
• 1 tablespoon corn oil or olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 jalapeño pepper, stemmed and chopped (optional)
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

Cut the cooked cellophane noodles into 2-inch lengths.

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Fill a medium bowl with ice and water. Cook the potatoes and carrot in the boiling water until barely tender, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain well and plunge into the ice water. Drain again, place in a bowl, and mix in the cellophane noodles.

Mix the corn or olive oil with the garlic and jalapeño in a small glass bowl and microwave on high power for 1 minute. Or cook in a small saucepan over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes, until the garlic softens. Stir in the sesame oil, vinegar, sugar, and salt.

Mix the dressing and cilantro into the potato salad. Serve at room temperature, cold, or warm. The salad will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for 3 days. It can be warmed in a microwave oven or in a skillet for a few minutes to take off the chill.

Weeknight Kitchen® is a free weekly e-mail newsletter full of new recipes and tips from Lynne and our guests.
Sign up »
This week's newsletter »

The Splendid Table®, is now available for free in podcast form. Follow the Sterns as they travel the country, hear all our unique and wonderful guests and, as always, Lynne takes your calls, downloaded direct to your computer every week.
Get the podcast

Get our recipes delivered straight to your iGoogle account with our new Google Gadget. It's free. It's easy. Find out how you can install this new feature on your Google Homepage.
Learn More