Polish leek salad with sweetcorn, egg and cheese: a party classic
The salad that stands on many a Polish party table beside the vegetable salad and the gyros one: leek sliced into thin rings and scalded to lose its bite, sweetcorn, hard-boiled eggs, grated yellow cheese and apple for freshness, in a mayonnaise and yogurt dressing. A quarter of an hour of chopping, an hour in the fridge, and the bowl disappears first.
Your own work in that: 23 min.
- Eggs boiling 12 min
- Leek and components 15 min
- Dressing and mixing 8 min
- Resting 60 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneHard-boil the eggs
Lower the eggs into boiling water and cook 9 minutes, then straight into cold water. Peel and dice.
Ingredients: 2 pcs leeks · 340 g tinned sweetcorn · 4 pcs eggs · 150 g hard yellow cheese · 1 pcs apple · ½ pcs lemon, juice · ½ bunch chives
Nine minutes, then cold waterSlice the leek thinly
Cut the dark green leaves and the root off the leeks, halve lengthways and rinse the grit from between the layers. Slice into very thin half-rings, 2 mm. Thick leek is stringy and sticks in the teeth.
Half-rings thin as paper, grit rinsed outScald the leek
Put the leek in a sieve and pour boiling water from the kettle over it, wait a minute, rinse with cold water and drain well, pressing with a spoon. Scalded leek loses its oniony bite and softens, but stays crunchy.
TipThis step is what separates a good leek salad from a harsh, unpleasant one. Raw leek can be pungent, and after an hour in mayonnaise it takes over the whole salad.
Boiling water, a minute, cold water, drainPrepare the rest
Drain the sweetcorn in a sieve. Grate the cheese coarsely. Peel the apple, cut into 1 cm dice and splash with lemon juice so it doesn't brown.
Corn, cheese, apple with lemonMix with the dressing
Stir the mayonnaise with the yogurt, mustard, salt and pepper. Combine the leek, corn, eggs, cheese and apple with the dressing in a bowl, folding gently so the eggs don't break down into mush.
Ingredients: 4 tbsp mayonnaise · 3 tbsp natural yogurt · 1 tsp mustard · ½ tsp salt · ½ tsp black pepper
Gently, bottom to topChill and serve
Cover and refrigerate an hour, so the flavours meld and the leek softens. Taste, add salt. Sprinkle with chives. With bread, cold cuts, for supper. Keeps 2 days in the fridge.
After an hour, with chives
Before you start
With ham or sausage
200 g diced ham or fried sliced smoked sausage: the salad becomes a supper dish.
Layered
The same components layered in a glass bowl, each layer spread with dressing: leek, corn, eggs, apple, cheese on top. More striking on the table, needs 3 hours in the fridge.
With pineapple
Half a tin of diced pineapple, well drained, instead of the apple. A sweeter, very festive version that is still popular.
