Niislel Salad

Ingredients

The boiled things

• 500 gpotatoes
• scrubbed, skins on
• 3carrots
• 5eggs

The rest

• 300 gsausage
• or boiled beef or mutton, diced
• 200 gpickled cucumbers
• diced small
• 150 gpeas
• tinned or frozen
• 1onion, very finely chopped

The dressing

• 300 gmayonnaise
• or to taste
• 1 teaspoonmustard, optional
• salt and black pepper

To serve

• chilled
• at a celebration
• in Ulaanbaatar

Directions

1. Warm potato crumbles as you cut it. Cool everything thoroughly first. Pregnant people should avoid raw egg. Use shop mayonnaise if any of them will eat it. It should be kept cold until served. Put the potatoes in a pot of water. Boil them whole in their skins. Give them about twenty-five minutes. Take them off slightly early for that. Boiling the carrots is done alongside.
2. Boil the carrots whole and unpeeled. Give them about twenty minutes. Cut ones leach into the water. Boil them whole and cut them after. Boil the eggs until they are hard. Give them about ten full minutes. Cool them down in a bowl of cold water. Cold water stops them cooking further.
3. Let everything cool completely. Refrigerate it if you have time. Warm ingredients crumble as you dice them. They also thin the mayonnaise. Cool everything right down first. Peel all of the cooled potatoes. Peel the carrots and the eggs. Rub them off with your thumb instead. Dice the potatoes evenly and small. Dice the carrots the same size.
4. Dice the eggs the same size again. Everything must match in size. Take the proper time over doing it. Dicing the rest is straightforward enough. Dice the sausage or boiled meat. Dice the pickled cucumbers small. Chop the onion very finely indeed.
5. Chop it far finer than everything else. Pat all the diced pickles dry. Put everything in a large bowl. Add all the peas to it as well. Frozen ones need thawing first.
6. Drain them thoroughly either way. Add the mayonnaise to the bowl. Add the mustard if you are using it. Season it with salt and black pepper. Fold it all together very gently. Fold rather than stirring hard. Use a large spoon and turn it over. Judging the dressing takes a look.
7. Add more only if it looks dry. Too much mayonnaise makes it heavy. Cover the bowl and refrigerate it. Give it at least two full hours. Taste it and adjust the salt as needed.
8. Add black pepper if it needs it. A bound salad needs real seasoning. Taste it properly after chilling. Serving it is always done cold. Spoon it out into a serving dish. It keeps two days refrigerated. Stir it again before serving it.

Technique

• Boil the potatoes and carrots whole in their skins and peel them after: peeled potatoes absorb water as they boil and give a soggy salad, and cut carrots leach their flavour into the water. Take the potatoes off slightly firm, since overcooked potato falls apart when diced.
• Everything must be completely cold before dicing, since warm ingredients crumble as you cut them and thin the mayonnaise. Everything should also be cut to the same small size, about half a centimetre — that evenness is what makes the salad, letting it bind properly and giving every forkful all the parts.
• Shop mayonnaise is made with pasteurised egg and carries no raw-egg risk; home-made uses raw yolk, which carries a small salmonella risk that pregnant people, very young children and anyone with low immunity should avoid. Keep the dressed salad chilled rather than standing out at a warm table for hours.

Substitutions

• Boiled beef or mutton stands in for sausage and is genuinely used in Mongolia.
• Pat the diced pickles dry on kitchen paper, since their liquid thins the dressing and makes the salad watery.

Variations

• Olivier salad was invented in Moscow and spread across the Soviet sphere; Mongolia adapted it, gave it its own name and its own meat, and it is genuinely Mongolian now.
• Chop the onion far finer than everything else, since raw onion is harsh in a bound salad.
• Fold it together gently rather than stirring hard, which crushes the potato and turns the salad to paste.

History

The Mongolian version of Russian Olivier salad, named for the capital and obligatory at Ulaanbaatar celebrations.

Frequently asked questions

What is Niislel Salad?

Niislel Salad is a salad & side from Mongolia: diced potato, carrot, pickle and sausage bound with mayonnaise. The Mongolian version of Russian Olivier salad, named for the capital and obligatory at Ulaanbaatar celebrations.

How long does Niislel Salad take to make?

Niislel Salad takes 40 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 8. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Niislel Salad?

Yes, within limits. Boiled beef or mutton stands in for sausage and is genuinely used in Mongolia. Pat the diced pickles dry on kitchen paper, since their liquid thins the dressing and makes the salad watery.

What is the most important thing to get right in Niislel Salad?

Dice the eggs the same size again. Everything must match in size. Take the proper time over doing it. Dicing the rest is straightforward enough. Dice the sausage or boiled meat. Dice the pickled cucumbers small. Chop the onion very finely indeed.