I’m bringing you today a lovely recipe for a salad. It’s not an ordinary salad – it’s something we often serve at parties in Poland. I thought it was time to write more about Polish food since I originally come from Poland I would love my readers from other parts of the world to learn a little bit more about the culture, food, and traditions of my beautiful home country. So today’s salad is a combination of leek, hard-boiled eggs, honey-cooked chicken, corn, and last but not least – low-fat mayo with a bit of sour cream, salt & pepper, and curry powder. Would you like to try it?
With a new month coming I want to tell you about something we do in Poland on the 21st of March – “The drowning of Marzanna”. It’s a festival of welcoming spring. After dark, long, and cold winter months we are eagerly waiting for the first signs of spring which are the return of storks from warm countries where they spend winter and blooming snowdrops. With those in sight, we can prepare for the drowning of Marzanna! What’s Marzanna? Originating from the ancient and pre-Christian periods Marzanna is a straw human-shaped figure representing death, winter, and evil, usually dressed in local traditional clothing. Ritual demands that Marzanna is carried around the whole village then set alight and while still burning thrown into the river or pond which symbolizes the change of the season. Some people think it should be stopped as it’s a Pagan tradition but after all these years it grew so much in Polish culture that it’s really hard to get rid of it. Oh and on 21 st of March some students will skip school and go what we call “na wagary” it’s somehow part of a tradition started in the late 1970s.
Leek & Eggs Mayo Salad
Ingredients:
- 2 leeks, thinly sliced
- 6 hard boiled eggs, chopped
- 90 g garden peas, drained
- 90 g sweetcorn, drained
- 8 slices of honey cooked chicken (or any other), chopped
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 3 tbsp low-fat mayo
- 1 tbsp sour cream
- 1 tsp curry powder
- splash of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Preparation:
In a large bowl mix in following ingredients: leeks, eggs, sweetcorn, chopped chicken, and garden peas. Mix it all until combined then season with salt & pepper and a splash of lemon juice. In a separate little bowl mix together low-fat mayo, sour cream, and curry powder, then stir in ready mayo sauce to prepared vegetables, and mix it until all vegetables are coated with mayo sauce. Refrigerate for 20 minutes then serve!