Russian salad is scrumptious & totally like a perfect meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The salad is very famous in many restaurants & it is served with you the whole meal. It is very creamy and tangy.
Russian people are fond of salads and the very interesting fact is that they only live on them. Their morning starts with such amazing salads sprinkled with black pepper & salt.
When I was working in Dubai, there was a colleague who was Russian and she told me how Russian salad differs from Indian salads.
I was amazed by her everyday meals which only includes some fruits and veggies served with olive oil & salt.
She was 45 years old at that time & looked like 35. I personally believe we should include a salad as the main appetizer in our daily meals for a lot of health benefits. The main health benefit that you get is you eat veggies in quantity which gives you immense stamina every day & your metabolism increases.
About Russian Salad
As the name suggests, this recipe is originally from Russia. It is also a traditional dish of the cuisine. The original recipe for this salad was first made by a Chef in the 1860s of Belgian origin.
His name was Lucien Olivier, a chef in Hermitage restaurant, which was well renowned at that time in Moscow. Therefore, this salad is also known as Olivier salad, after his name. This dish was extremely popular at the time and went on to become the signature dish.
Later, one of his assistant chefs stole the recipe and copied it later with the name “Metropolitan Salad”, when he became a chef at another restaurant. His version of the salad was of lower standards and he later sold the recipe to a publishing house. This led to contributing the popularity of this salad furthermore.
Originally, the ingredients for the recipe consists of “Mogul Sauce” or ” Kabul Sauce”, grouse, crayfish, potatoes, cucumber, lettuce, aspic, capers, olives, and mayonnaise. Sometimes chicken, sausage, or crayfish were in substitution for grouse, unlike the original recipe.
With time, the ingredients changed with different versions of this recipe. Cheaper ingredients replaced the ingredients in the original recipe. For Example, grouse was replaced by chicken or sausage, crayfish by hard-boiled egg, cucumbers, olives, and capers by pickled cucumbers and green peas.
Note:
- Some people add condensed milk instead of castor sugar. You can use that too or honey for the same.
- Instead of yoghurt, you can use the cream as well.
- Use non-dairy counterparts of dairy products for a vegan recipe.
- You can boil or steam the vegetables after dicing them. That way it will be done sooner.
Try this scrumptious Russian salad & do let us know how much you liked it in the comments.