Lemon Cumin Potato Salad, Camp Version
Foil-roasted potatoes torn up hot and dressed with oil, lemon, and toasted cumin.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 47
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Potatoes | 4 to 5 medium | russets or yukons, scrubbed, skins on |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 1/4 cup | a dropper bottle keeps it out of your gear |
| Lemon | 1 | juice and zest; a whole lemon keeps for a week unrefrigerated |
| Cumin seeds | 1 tsp | whole, not ground |
| Red onion | 1 small | or 2 spring onions if you are eating night one |
| Salt | to taste | |
| Black pepper | to taste | |
| Red chilli flakes | a pinch | optional |
| Dried coriander leaf | 1 tsp | fresh if you brought it |
Method
- Wrap each potato in foil. Bury them in coals at the edge of the fire, or set them on the grate over medium heat.
- Turn them every fifteen minutes. They are done in 35 to 45 minutes, when a knife slides through with no resistance.
- While they cook, toast the cumin seeds dry in your pot for about a minute, until they smell like something. Take them off the heat before they darken.
- Unwrap the potatoes and let them sit until you can handle them. Tear or cube them, skins and all, straight into the pot.
- Pour the oil over while they are still hot, then the lemon juice, zest, cumin, and chopped onion.
- Salt heavily, add pepper and chilli, stir once, and scatter the coriander over the top. Eat warm.
The original bakes potatoes in an oven and scoops the flesh out. Coals do the same job, and there is no reason to lose the skins to it, so this version cooks in foil and tears everything in whole. Skins hold the cubes together and carry most of what makes a potato taste like a potato.
Dressing hot potatoes is the whole point. Warm starch takes on oil and acid the way cold potato never will, which is why this needs no mayonnaise and no cooler. Toasting the cumin seeds first matters more than it sounds like it should — raw seeds stay hard and taste like nothing.
Packing
Potatoes, onion, and lemon travel loose in a mesh bag with no cooler. Cumin, salt, pepper, chilli, and dried coriander go in one small tin. Pre-cut foil squares at home.
Variations
- Add a foil pouch of tuna or a chopped salami stick for real protein.
- Halve the potatoes cut-side down on the grate to cut the cook time to twenty minutes.
- A spoonful of mustard in the dressing thickens it and stretches the lemon.
https://www.awesomecuisine.com/recipes/19664/baked-potato-salad