Curried New Potato Salad

I've had my Lee Brothers's Simple Fresh Southern: Knockout Dishes with Down-Home Flavor cookbook since Christmas. For the life of me, I'm not real sure why it has taken me this long to make something from it. Especially considering that so many of the recipes look delicious.

So when we had a cook-out to attend Memorial Day weekend and were responsible for bringing a side dish, I decided to forego my usual go-to and try a recipe out from this book.

The temperatures were super high that weekend and I wanted to stay away from hot dishes.  I found two recipes for potato salad in this book that looked amazing - Green Goddess Potato Salad & Curried New Potato Salad and decided to go with the latter, figuring no one else would be making anything with curry or garam masala.

This recipe is time consuming in that it involves a lot of chopping and dicing, but the end result is a super flavorful potato salad where the delicious dressing really coats every little morsel.  This potato salad was a big hit and I think everyone was pleasantly surprised by the unusual flavor combinations. 

One of the things I loved about this potato salad is that while curry, garam masala and mayo tend to impart richness, this is kept bright with the pickle relish, lemon juice and vinegar.

Notes:
- The book claims that the recipe as listed below serves 4. I call bologna. I doubled the recipe due to this fact and ended up with enough potato salad to feed a small army (an army much bigger than 8!).  I'd say the recipe below will serve 8-10 people easily.
- The recipe calls for using 1 teaspoon of either curry powder or garam masala.  I actually used both since I doubled the recipe (1 teaspon of curry and 1 teaspoon of garam masala).  Next time I make this recipe, I won't double it but will still use both spices - 1/2 teaspoon of each.
- At the end I added a little more salt and two large pinches of black pepper.  I didn't find that adding any additional curry powder or garam masala was necessary.

Curried New Potato Salad

5 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
2 1/2 lbs small red potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch dice
1/2 cup high-quality mayo (Duke's)
1/4 cup whole or low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup pickle relish
Juice of 1 large lemon
1 tbsp white wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar
1 tsp curry powder or garam masala, plus more to taste
2 ribs celery, peeled and finely diced (approx. 1 cup)
1 cup thinly sliced scallions (white & green parts)
Freshly ground black pepper

Put 6 cups water, 4 1/2 teaspoons of the salt & the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover and bring to a boil over high heat.  Cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and let sit in the hot water for 10 minutes while you prepare the dressing.

In a large salad bowl, whisk the mayo with the buttermilk, pickle relish, lemon juice, vinegar, curry powder and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt.

Drain the potatoes in a colander and run them under cold running water to cool.  Shake off the excess water and transfer the potatoes to the bowl containing the dressing.  Add the celery and scallions, and toss until evenly coated with the dressing.  Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve (but not more than 2 days).

Before serving, season to taste with salt, curry powder and black pepper.