This Anti

Potato salad gets a pretty bad rap on the whole, which is a shame really as potatoes are a great vehicle for really punchy dressings. As with so many culinary sins, I blame the '70s. Mayo. Peas. Jeez—you could even buy potato salad in a can...

Anyway, this is a completely different ballgame.

Serves 6 as a side

The clue is in the name really. Salad potatoes. They are firm and waxy and withstand all that tossing around in sauce. There is nothing wrong with a smashed potato salad of course, but for this particular dish, you want your potatoes to keep their integrity. So, with the dumbing down of supermarket shopping (what in God's name is an "easy peeler," for example? What on earth happened to calling a clementine a clementine, and a mandarin a mandarin?) you will probably be able to waltz in and buy a generic "salad potato," but given the luxury of variety and choice, I would always opt for fingerling potatoes, which remain delightfully creamy and have a ton of flavor in their own right.

Excerpted from Veganistan by Sally Butcher. Copyright © 2023 by Sally Butcher. Used by permission of Interlink Publishing Group.

Sally Butcher is the fiery-haired proprietress of the notable Persian food store Persepolis in London, which she runs with her Persian husband, Jamshid. She is also a prolific author and blogger, who has amassed a devoted online following for her food blog. The foodie delights of the Middle East are her specialty, but she has been known to venture far and wide for inspiration. Her first book, Persia in Peckham, was selected Cookery Book of the Year by the Times of London and was short-listed for the 2008 André Simon Award. Her following tomes, The New Middle Eastern Vegetarian, New Middle Eastern Street Food, and Salmagundi: A Celebration of Salads from around the world, also published by Interlink, have received critical acclaim and starred reviews. When Sally is not running her store, she blogs and tweets prolifically and has amassed a devoted online following.