Edamame and Potato Salad

QUCIK DISH / VEGAN / DAIRY-FREE / GLUTEN-FREE
February 27, 2021

Tender Edamame (green soy beans) and potatoes make a delightful and nutritious salad. It can be served warm or chilled, as a side dish or a simple meal on its own. You can also make it on the spot or in advance. It’s one of my lunch favorites.

In this recipe, I’m using green soy beans from a bag of frozen edamame. There are three ways to thaw edamame (it’s already blanched before freezing): thaw without heating (in fridge or room temperature), boiling, or steaming. When thawing without heating, you will notice water loss (sometimes significant) during thawing, leaving the soy bean tasting a bit dry. With boiling, the loss of flavour is noticeable to me (also an indication of water-soluble nutrition loss). With very brief steaming, the soy beans are very tender (steaming prevents water loss), full of the beautiful mellow aroma of cooked soy beans, and the nutritional loss is minimum compared to boiling. For these reasons, I always stick to steaming.

EDAMAME AND POTATO SALAD

QUCIK DISH / VEGAN / DAIRY-FREE / GLUTEN-FREE

MAKE 2 servings PREPARATION 5 min COOKING 5 min

Ingredients

• 300g of frozen edamame (in pods)
• 2 potatoes, diced into cubes about 1cm on each side
• 1 tomato, diced or a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 spring onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• salt to taste plus a sprinkle of ground linseeds

Method

1. Boil a pot of water for both steaming (the beans) and boiling (the potatoes) while getting ready. Rinse the potato cubes in water and drain.
2. In a steamer with boiling water, steam the edamame on high heat until the pods are thawed, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool a little, squeeze the pods gently to let out the soy beans. Discard the empty pods.
3. In a pot with boiling water, add the potato cubes. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes or until they are just cooked through (even color, no opaque pale bits in the middle, but before they are very soft and starts to break apart. Drain.
4. Mix all the ingredients. Serve warm or chilled.

Recipe Notes

1. If using edamame (green soy beans) already shelled, the steaming may complete before the end of 10 minutes.
2. You can add any mild flavored vegetables and nuts to this salad, including carrots and broccoli. Vary the amount of green soy beans and potatoes to your liking.