Green Pea Salad

I first experienced this strange little salad some time ago at a Church pot luck. Though at that time it had been mixed with mayonnaise and other unmentionable things…oh I can’t resist I will mention them anyway: marshmallows! Eeewwwww gross. Speaking of gross does anyone else remember the jellied salad that had Red-Hots in it?).  

There the salad would have stayed in the back of my mind a terrifying reminder of food gone bad, something to awaken me in a cold sweat on a moonless Thursday night, were it not for the purchase of a church pot luck cookbook from right here in Oregon, Tualatin, Oregon to be exact. 

There on the unused pages of a book that had never seen the interior of a kitchen I found recipes for mayonnaise baked chicken with a potato chip crust, cinnamon candy, lemon jell-o and ham salad, liver sausage bonbons with grape jelly dipping sauce and many such horrors. However on one page below a recipe for a shoestring potato salad (yes those razor sharp javelin like things that came in the squat cardboard tube that pierced your palate every time you tried to eat them) was a green pea and peanut salad that resembled the one at the pot luck so many years ago.

It too was swathed in a thick judicious coating of rude mayonnaise, Oooooh Quick tip! I have done this and it actually works. To make a mock hollandaise add a teaspoon of yellow mustard and 2 tablespoon of lemon juice to a cup of mayonnaise, mix well over low heat or in a double boiler. Great over broccoli, cauliflower or poached eggs. Dust with paprika just before serving.

Well that was a strange little off topic discussion. Back to the pea salad:

The first thing that had to go was the mayonnaise, but what to replace it with? Then I thought of some of the Indonesian sambal’s that I have had with chopped peanuts and toasted coconut,  chopped peanuts in vinegar and chili and many other variations of peanutty goodness. By the way I hate peanut butter, awful stuff. I know that is going to get me some nasty emails but oh well, no one pays attention unless you are controversial.  Move over Sinead O’Conner. Actually does anyone even remember who she is anymore? 

 So here is the result a rather unusual salad that goes really well with the satay posted back in October. 

Ingredients: 

2 Packages of frozen green pea thawed

½ cup of dry roasted peanuts

3 Tablespoons of peanut oil

1 Tablespoon of rice wine vinegar

1 Teaspoon of sesame oil

3 Green onions chopped

Method: 

Mix all together in a big bucket and chill for 20 minutes. Toss again just before serving.