Mash

davidjtaylor

I love salted mashed spuds but I realise too much salt is not good, so I've experimented with other ways of enhancing them without salt.

So far I've tried (not all at once, obviously):

While the spuds are boiling:
Crushed garlic
Purple sweet potato

After mashing:
Finely chopped raw onions (my favourite) or grated leeks
Olive oil
Coconut oil (deadly delicious)
Engervita
A stock cube
Plamil mayo
and I once added a tin of peas to the mash...interesting. :P

Ideas I've read about but not tried yet:
Samphire
Walnut oil
Mashed avocado
Broccoli cooked with the spuds
Mustard
Horseradish (but I have to say I don't like 'spicy' mash)

Post ideas here.

igCorcaigh

Kale is an obvious one (colcannon)
Would caramelised onion work? Too sweet maybe.
Mayo?

davidjtaylor

Kale would be good. Added to the spud while boiling? Or cooked separately as it doesn't mash?

Tried the mayo thing - too creamy by far for me.

igCorcaigh

davidjtaylor wrote: »

Kale would be good. Added to the spud while boiling? Or cooked separately as it doesn't mash?

Tried the mayo thing - too creamy by far for me.

I cook it separately, chop it up and mix in to the mashed potatoes.

igCorcaigh

Truffle oil might be worth a shot too.

igCorcaigh

Spring onions.

Would vegan bacon work?

davidjtaylor

Not keen on vegan bacon, for various reasons but thanks for the idea. Spring onions, yes, my favourite is onions finely chopped and mixed in raw with the mash.

eezipc

I've really started to enjoy creamy mash with vegan Flora butter. It's actually quite nice

davidjtaylor

eezipc wrote: »

I've really started to enjoy creamy mash with vegan Flora butter. It's actually quite nice

Right, yes, I've tried with just vegan marge. but it always turns out too creamy for our tastes, though nice in its own right. Have you tried mash with coconut oil mixed in? You shouldn't. :D

Slaphead07

igCorcaigh wrote: »

I cook it separately, chop it up and mix in to the mashed potatoes.

Exactly. I know there's a new found trendiness for kale but I was reared in teh stuff (well this time of the year) and always loved it.

Kevg268

Steam spuds and swede(turnip). Add white pepper and use a hand blender.
Perfect.

davidjtaylor

Kevg268 wrote: »

Steam spuds and swede(turnip). Add white pepper and use a hand blender.
Perfect.

Sounds really good. On the list!

igCorcaigh

Roasted garlic is always good. Roasted whole then squeezed out of the skin.

Kevg268

davidjtaylor wrote: »

Sounds really good. On the list!

No badness and sneaks in extra veg for kids.

igCorcaigh

Iyers is a vegetarian south Indian cafe down here; they do these baked snacks that are filled with mashed potato, peas and cardamom. They're delicious! Mash is more chunky than creamy.

Might be worth playing around with those ingredients.

davidjtaylor

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Iyers is a vegetarian south Indian cafe down here; they do these baked snacks that are filled with mashed potato, peas and cardamom. They're delicious! Mash is more chunky than creamy.

Might be worth playing around with those ingredients.

Bit like a veggie samosa perhaps? They often have potatoes and peas in them.

Whatever, they sound lovely.

igCorcaigh

davidjtaylor wrote: »

Bit like a veggie samosa perhaps? They often have potatoes and peas in them.

Whatever, they sound lovely.

Samosa, that's it. Couldn't think of the name.

gozunda

Mashed spuds with freshly squeezed lemon juice is very nice imo

davidjtaylor

I tried putting tahini in mash once and it made it very claggy. I hope people understand that word.

davidjtaylor

Thanks for the ideas people. Keep 'em coming!

Although I'm getting these thoughts together to find ways of doing mash (and maybe other stuff) without salt, it's not to avoid salt altogether. In fact, it could help me feel less guilty when I do use salt! We should try new ideas all the time.

I want to gather everything together in a blog post once I've tasted all these alternatives.

igCorcaigh

Would cooking the potatoes with some seaweed give it a salty/savoury touch? I don't know.

igCorcaigh

igCorcaigh wrote: »

Would cooking the potatoes with some seaweed give it a salty/savoury touch? I don't know.

You can get these Japanese spice mixes that contain kombu and other unami type flavours. It might work.

igCorcaigh

You might want to check if they are vegan of course, Japanese add fish to everything.

eezipc

davidjtaylor wrote: »

Right, yes, I've tried with just vegan marge. but it always turns out too creamy for our tastes, though nice in its own right. Have you tried mash with coconut oil mixed in? You shouldn't. :D

Oh I won't....... Who am I kidding...

I always heat some plant based milk, maybe quarter a cup, and add that in with salt and pepper when mashing.

That’s just always how I have my mash and no good to you as I’ve used salt.

I will definitely be trying the finely chopped onion idea. Sounds real good.

davidjtaylor

Last night, when the spuds were about half-cooked, I added lots of broccoli and two cloves of garlic. Finished cooking and mashed: gorgeous! No salt.

Served it with creamed leeks (fried chopped leeks, a little flour and water, half a teaspoon of mustard and lots of yeast flakes after cooking, doesn't need salt at all) and steamed carrots and peas with a little oil and black pepper.

Wonderful.