Peruvian Causa – Layered Potato Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing

When my friends B and R, who lived in Peru for a few years told me about this salad, I just had to make it. A causa, they explained is anything layered with mashed potatoes. In Peru, they use seafood, avocados, tomatoes, olives and sometimes eggs in the salad. Traditional causa also has aji amarillo – Peru’s signature yellow pepper.

I used three different colored potatoes to make the salad look vibrant and festive. I used Peru’s own purple potatoes, white fleshed potatoes, and red skinned potatoes colored orange with food coloring (or saffron).

The possibilities are endless with this salad, you can layer the potatoes anyway you like, with anything you like! You dont need a special mold to assemble this salad. Read on to see how you can use common household items to stack up these colorful layers.

Coincidentally, two other friends, also called B and R (how weird is that!), just returned from Peru. They got me the gorgeous orange sun-and-moon plate you see in the first, last and below pictures.

Peruvian Causa
Serves about 8 as an appetizer

For the Multicolored layers
I used 1/2 pound or about 10 baby potatoes of each color. You could use larger sized potatoes, they will make the peeling a bit easier. Just make sure you boil and mash each kind of potato separately.

White potato layer
½ pound white potatoes
½ tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp milk
2 tsp lemon or lime juice
Salt and Pepper

Boil the potatoes in water till they are fork tender. Drain and peel them. Add all other ingredients and mash the potatoes.

Orange potato layer
½ pound red skinned potatoes
A pinch of saffron or orange food coloring (I used food coloring)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp milk
2 tsp lemon or lime juice
Salt and Pepper

Boil the potatoes in water till they are fork tender. I prefer to keep the red skins on because they add more color. If using saffron, warm the milk and saffron in the microwave for a few seconds. Then add all ingredients to the potatoes and mash well.

Purple potato layer
½ pound purple potatoes
½ tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp milk
2 tsp lemon or lime juice
Salt and Pepper

Boil the potatoes in water till they are fork tender. Peel the potatoes. Add all ingredients to the potatoes and mash well.

Vegetable and Olive layer
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 large red pepper, finely chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
½ cup of your favorite olives, chopped. I used a combination of kalamata and halkidiki. Use less olives if you don’t like it too salty
½ tsp lemon or lime zest
1-2 tbsp lemon or lime juice
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper (watch the salt because the olives are already salty!)

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate till you are ready to use them.

How to assemble Causa
Gather the prepared white, orange and purple colored potatoes and the vegetable-olive salad.

You will need a ring mold or something similar to make this salad. I used a 2×2 coupling (whatever that is!) from the hardware store. Here are some other things you can use to assemble the causa:

- A plastic bottle (without ridges) that has been cut so both ends are open
- A PVC pipe cut to about 2 inches tall
- A round ring mold like this one

Wash the mold well, especially if its a pvc pipe or some other hardware! Place your mold on a serving platter. Start with 2-3 teaspoons of the purple potato. Place it into the mold. Using the back of the spoon, press the mashed potato down to compact it as much as you can.

Then place 2 spoons of the vegetable-olive mixture followed by the white potato, more vegetable-olive mixture, ending with orange potatoes.

Compress and smooth out each layer as you go along.

Now, gently lift the mold/coupling/pvc pipe to reveal a gorgeous multi layered, multi colored salad!

Serve on a bed of lettuce with creamy avocado dressing.

Creamy Avocado Dressing
1 ripe avocado
3 tbsp Greek style yogurt
Salt and pepper

Combine everything and mash with a fork till the dressing is smooth and creamy. Add some milk for a thinner dressing.

Tagged as: potato, salad