Memus Interruptus, part deus

Japanese Potato Salad: the recipe is by Harumi Kurihara, the typing and some notes are from Kira, but I take credit for tasting it and determining that it is awesome. Most Japanese that I've met have a knee-jerk reaction that everything Japanese is superior to everything else, but in this case I agree with them. Not so much on their porn.

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs large potatoes
½ lb large carrots
1 tsp granulated chicken stock powder
2/3 cup cucumber
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup onion
1 cup mayonnaise (we used Japanese mayo, good luck finding that, rednecks, neener neener neener)
salt and coarsely ground pepper
optional: sliced hard boiled egg

Instructions:

1.) Wash the potatoes and carrots but do not peel (note: peeling after cooking is a pain in the butt, and only you can determine if it’s necessary)

2.) Place in a hot steamer and cook for about 25 min. over medium heat, taking care to top up the water from time to time as needed. Prick the vegetables with a toothpick or skewer to see if cooked and remove when done

3.) Peel the potatoes and carrots while hot, and then transfer the potatoes to a bowl and roughly break up (I actually cut them :P). Mix in the chicken stock powder and leave to cool. Chop the carrots in half lengthways and slice into 1/5-inch-thick semicircular pieces. You can make quarter-button shapes by chopping the halved carrot again lengthways before slicing.

4.) Cut the cucumber in half lengthways and, using a spoon, remove the seeds. (we just used seedless, although I can't find fresh Japanese cucumbers on the East coast - G) Cut each half again lengthways and then slice into 1/5-inch-thick pieces. In a separate bowl, sprinkle salt over the cucumber and leave for about 2-3 min. to soften, then squeeze to remove excess liquid. Cut the onion in half, slice and soak in water to remove any bitterness, then drain and pat dry (I skipped the rinsing step here because I used a sweet onion—I didn’t think it was necessary to rinse it)

5.) When the potato is cool, add the carrots, cucumber, and onions and lightly mix. Stir in the mayo, salt, and pepper, and serve.

I used a biscuit cutter to mold the potato salad into cylinders (Harumi shapes them like this to add to the presentation - G) and put a slice of the hard-boiled egg on top to look pretty (the egg also compliments the flavor - G), but somebody could just as easily throw it all in a bowl and even just put the sliced egg on top at that point if they wanted the egg, yet also wanted to avoid having to mold the potato salad into cylinders.

PS - easy, quick, and if you really want me to risk having a shart attack on the open road while attempting to visit you, you will have this waiting as my reward.