Don’t you just love salads? Boy, I love ’em. But they gotta be creamy, crunchy and satisfying. The best thing about them is that salads give you enough room to adjust the ingredients according to your own taste. Want chicken in your salad, throw in some, need it to be light, diet-friendly, omit mayo , play with flavors as you please and find the right one that clicks your mood.

Same’s the case with this recipe, you can add chicken, throw in boiled eggs, throw in just about anything you feel like. Cabbage, beet roots, onions, walnuts and lots and lots of other nuts.

A peep into History

Salad Olivier, a Russian origin salad is composed of meat pieces, vegetables and diced potatoes all bound together in mayonnaise. Some also call it Russian salad but the phrase Russian salad is basically used to describe the vinaigrette salad. The earliest version of this salad was created in the year 1860. The inventor of this specific salad was Lucien Olivier. He was the chef in one of the Moscow’s renowned restaurants. Within few days it became the signature dish of the restaurant due to its immense popularity among the restaurant’s regulars. The original recipe was a well guarded secret but it basically consisted of veal tongue, lettuce, capers, grouse, caviar, crayfish tails and smoked duck. The seasonal variations are possible in the recipe.

The next thing you’ll notice about Russian salads is the prominence of “root crops,” those vegetables which grown undergound.  These plants have the advantage of the ground as a natural shelter from weather up top on the surface.  That means they can be started earlier or can finish later than ordinary plants.  Therefore you’ll see lots of things like potatoes, beets, carrots, radishes, onions, turnips, etc, in a Russian salad.

Finally, Russian salads are much more like their Greek counterparts than most realize.  Russians love to “mix it up” a bit by adding fruits like grapes, melon, raisins, pineapple, apple, etc, to a vegetable salad.  Often honey or molasses to a salad, creating a very nice surprise to the palate.  With all the attention and care given to making a Russian salad, and most are very simple and quick to put together, you will soon understand why salads are such an important part of every Russian meal.

And here’s my version of Russian Salad.

what you need

Carrots—————– half shredded
Cucumber————– 1 cubed
Raisins——————- as many as you like
Pineapples————- cubed 1 cup
Apples—————– 3 medium, peeled and cubed
Potatoes————— boiled 3large
Mayonnaise———— 1 cup
Cream—————— 1 cup
Sugar——————- 2 tbsp or if you have pineapple syrup use that (3 tbsp)
Salt——————— 1/2 tsp
White pepper———– 1/2 tsp
Milk——————– 4 tbsp

How it’s made

1. Ina  clean bowl, throw in mayo, cream, milk, sugar, pepper, salt and give it a good mix till it’s creamy and smooth.
2. Now add in rest pf the stuff and you’re done.
3. Lastly, a quick prayer for me and dig in 😀

Courtesy: Salad Recipes
Courtesy: the mendeleyev journal