Salad Olivier

Round out your Norooz/Nowruz season by taking the popular Salad Olivier to Sizdeh Bedar! Sizdeh Bedar is the 13th day of the Persian New Year where it is tradition to get out of the house and have a picnic or spend time outdoors.   Salad Olivier (pronounced ooloovieh or olivieh) is a potato, chicken, and egg salad with a tangy twist – pickles add crunch and a punchy tartness.  We serve Salad Olivier as an appetizer or side dish at gatherings.  It is a wonderful compliment to kabab at barbecues, potlucks, and picnics - always a crowd pleaser!   Similar to Russian version - both have potatoes, carrots, peas, pickles, and mayo Persian potato salad has boiled eggs and chicken. However Russian potato salad has diced ham, onion and dill, the Persian version does not.   What we like about it: Easy to make ahead, batch cook, meal prep Travels well to parties and picnics Unique, fun twist to potato salad - a popular crowd pleaser   Basics of recipe: Cooked chicken breasts Cooked potatoes Peas & carrots (sometimes available frozen) Dill pickles (the crunchier the better!) Hard-boiled eggs Mayonnaise Salt, pepper, and lemon juice    Recipe variations: Cut down on the mayo - possible substitutes:  light mayo, yogurt, or mustard (will alter the flavor) Traditional method to serve has an extra layer of mayo covering the salad as a canvas to then decorate the top with vegetables Scoop method - scoop it in the shape of a ball and decorate around it Serve in split top buns or rolls as a sandwich Experiment with your preference of different types of potatoes and whether or not to keep the potato skins intact   Ask the Beats Bita wants to know, what is a special Sizdeh Bedar memory that you have and can share? Beata:  Enjoying a big pot of Maman joon’s Loobia polo out in a big park at a picnic   References: Ep 24:  Norooz Part 3:  Persian New Year Sizdah Behdar Episode 58: Lubia Polo | Green Bean Rice   All Modern Persian Food podcast episodes can be found at: Episodes Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food! Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes   Bita’s recipe for Salad Olivier Persian Potato Salad Beata’s recipe for Lubia Polo for the Persian New Year Sezdeh be Dar Picnic Beata’s recipe for Persian Salad Olivieh   Podcast production by Alvarez Audio