Chinese Spiced Potato Salad Recipe (Qiangban Tudousi)

Potato salad as part of the Asian repertoire? Yes! Viet people enjoy a Russian-French potato salad (my go-to recipe is in Into the Vietnamese Kitchen) but there are also Japanese and Filipino potato salads to explore too! In the main, Asian potato salads are seasoned with  mayonnaise dressing. But then, there’s Chinese potato salad! It’s mayonnaise less and full of zingy heat from Sichuan peppercorns and dried chiles. There’s also a delicate tang from vinegar.

Enjoyed in many other parts of China, potato salad, explains Fuchsia Dunlop in her extensive book, The Food of Sichuan, falls in the category of qiangban dishes. That means there is some wok cooking involved. I’ve spotted recipes online and in books, such as the splendid All Under Heaven by Carolyn Phillips, that call for briefly stir-frying the slivered potatoes with aromatics, but that could cause uneven cooking. The very thinly cut potatoes could lose their crispness. Yes, Chinese potato salad is texturally crisp. When you eat it, you may think the potato is raw but it’s quickly blanched just to soften. The interplay of textures is what makes Chinese cooking incredibly intriguing and surprising. The blanched potatoes are lightly seasoned before receiving a rush of  hot oil poured on top to finish. Despite the oil, the potato salad isn’t greasy. 

Sichuan-style spiced potato salad is typically served as a cold snack but it’s certainly at home with barbecue and other summertime grilled items. It’s not heavy like mayonnaise potato salad so I find it quite welcoming on my menus this time of year. 

I’ve enjoyed potato salad at my local Chinese restaurant, and it’s not hard to make at home. Here are some tips plus a recipe to make it yourself!

What kind of potatoes

In Chinese, potato goes by several names. For this recipe, I stick with the northern Mandarin term tudou, which means "earth beans". The word si refers to the fine matchstick shape of the cut potato.

However you call a potato, a sturdy potato that can withstand boiling works best for cutting into slender pieces. That means no Russet potatoes, which are great for baking but their fluffy mealy characteristics may translate to the potato strands falling apart. Most recipes council you to choose a “waxy” or “boiling” potato like red or white potatoes. Yukon Gold potatoes straddle baking and boiling, and they work too. I chose to mix my potatoes today with one red waxy, one Yukon Gold, and a red/pink heirloom from the farmer’s market. That explains the color variation in the salad I made today.

The Incas in Peru first cultivated potatoes and there are many kinds in the Americas. Try different ones for color, texture, and flavor fun. 

To peel or not to peel

In the main, I don’t peel potatoes. I learned from Farmer Lee Jones in his new vegetable book that most of the potato’s nutrients are in the peel! And, since I often buy locally grown ones or organic potatoes, which cost more, I want to get the most bang for my potato buck.

Unless a recipe is majorly affected by potato skin, I leave them on. A quick scrubbing with a Japanese vegetable brush is all it takes. 

Dried chiles and Sichuan Peppercorns

Sichuan chiles are often used but I opted for Mexican puya chiles, which have a lovely long depth of flavor and aroma. This pot of oil was incredibly fragrant. The Puya chiles are sold at Mexican markets small and large. You may use arbol or Japones, too, I use puya chiles for dishes like Thai-style chicken and basil.

As for the Sichuan peppercorns, there are many options. If you're unfamiliar with the numbingly wonderful spice, here is a post on four kinds to try. I've seen them sold at supermarkets so they are not hard to find anymore!

Cutting the thin slivers takes time but if you’ve got a good knife, it goes quickly and easily. You may also use a mandoline for cutting the potato. I hope you add this recipe to your summer rotation!

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Sichuan Spiced Potato Salad

In Chinese, this is called quiangban tudousi. See Notes below if you want to play around.

Course: Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: potato salad

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2 large or 3 medium waxy/ boiling potatoes, such as Yukon Gold or red, or a combo (1 pound total)
• Fine sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• 2 ½ tablespoons unfiltered apple cider vinegar or unseasoned rice vinegar
• 6 to 10 dried Sichuan, arbol, or puya chiles, ends snipped, seeds shaken out, and chiles halved lengthwise
• Generous 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
• 3 to 4 tablespoons canola, peanut, or other neutral oil
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

Instructions

• Peel or scrub and leave the skin on the potatoes. To cut the potatoes as skinny matchsticks, slice the potatoes into thin pieces, roughly ⅛ inch thick. Group and stack them up, then cut into matchstick slivers (think skinny bean sprouts), transferring them to a bowl of water as you work to avoid browning. (Alternatively, use a mandoline.)
• Halfway fill a 4 or 5-quart pot with water and add 1 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt. Bring to a boil over high heat. Drain the potatoes in a colander, briefly rinse to remove excess starch, add the potatoes to the boiling water. Turn off the heat, wait for about 2 minutes, until slightly softened and still crisp, then drain the potatoes. Partly refill the pot with cold water then dump the potatoes in, swish a few times to remove starch and stop cooking, then drain in the colander.
• Shake the colander super well to expel excess water then transfer the potato to a bowl or even back into the cooking pot, if it’s cool by now. (If there’s still lots of lingering water, pat the potato with a dishtowel.) Toss with the vinegar and a good ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt and the sugar.
• In a small saucepan, combine the canola oil, dried chiles, and Sichuan peppercorns. Heat over medium-low heat, shaking the pan or stirring, until the chiles are and peppercorns are aromatic and a bit dark, but not burnt. You may hear gently sizzling towards the end. Pour the hot oil and aromatics over the potato slivers, toss. Pour on the sesame oil and retoss. Taste and add any extra salt, then mound into a shallow bowl to serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Notes

To tinker, add 1 or 2 minced cloves of garlic to the oil during the last 15 seconds or so for a pungent note. If Sichuan peppercorns are unavailable, try 1 teaspoon coriander seed plus ½ teaspoon cracked black or white peppercorns. It won't be the same but you'll have an interesting spice hit.

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