Potato Salad - Zalatat Potaita

This weekend I went to a barbecue.  There was a mountain of delicious food.  I ate so much food, especially meat.  I was so full that even now looking at pictures of food makes me a little ill.

That's a poor way to start a blog post about food, but this was a good salad.  It was light and fresh, a perfect summer potato salad.  It would be ideal for a picnic because it doesn't have any mayonnaise.  

The salad reminds me of a tomato salad my dad makes almost weekly every summer.  He grows tomatoes and always has a pile he needs to use.  His salad is made with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and basil.  It's simple but delicious.

I got the recipe from "The Iraqi Cookbook."  Like my dad's salad, it tastes better after a couple of days in the fridge.

The ingredients for this salad are 10 small potatoes, 3 medium tomatoes, 1 large cucumber, 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper, a bunch of fresh parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

I baked the potatoes for 12 or 13 minutes at 350 degrees.  I let them cool completely before chopping them into bite size pieces.

I chopped up the tomatoes and cucumbers and placed them in a bowl.

I chopped up the peppers and placed them in the bowl.

I used a healthy amount of parsley in this recipe.  I chopped it well before adding it to the bowl.  I didn't use the stocks.  

I squeezed in the juice of one lemon.  I also drizzled in some lemon juice.  

I added salt and pepper to taste.

This was a light, fresh, and pleasant salad.  It would make a great side dish for a barbecue or potluck.  It tastes better after a day or two in the fridge, so it can definitely be made in advance.

I enjoyed the parsley.  The potatoes make this a little more hearty, but it is still really healthy.

I prefer this type of potato salad over a mayonnaise based one.  It was delicious, and I will make it again.