WHAT’S COOKING: Two good reasons why Braai Day can be a Salad Day too

Ring the changes with a cheerful innovation on a potato salad, and a couscous salad of delicious simplicity.

I have a love-hate relationship with sweet potatoes – I love orange sweet potatoes, and dislike the pink variety.

I often wonder what to call the orange varieties (there are several), and for some time called them “kara” potatoes, though this is apparently an in-house brand monicker at Woolworths.

Some swift investigation reveals that orange sweet potatoes are also known as Beauregard, Garnet and Jewel potatoes.

Pink sweet potatoes, by contrast, must answer to the much less enticing names of Boniata or Batata potatoes.

In America, they’re called “yams”, which surely is one of the ugliest little words in the English language.

For me, there is no contest between orange and pink. I’m an orange sweet potato fan all the way.

So, casting around for ideas for a different kind of potato salad, I spotted some orange sweet potatoes and turned three of them into a sweet potato salad.

To ensure it would be a lively salad with more surprises for the palate, I added some dried cling peaches, diced very small, feta, and spring onions.

Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil and plunge the diced potato in. Boil at a moderate simmer (not too violent) for about 10 minutes, drain in a colander, and run cold water through. Leave to drain.

Chop the fresh oregano and mix all the dressing ingredients in a large salad bowl.

Tear the basil leaves and scatter over. Finish with a jaunty sprig of fresh basil.

The next evening, I made a very different salad. This was a couscous salad with baby fennel, freshly picked young garden spinach, and black beans.

Try to source the kind of couscous that comes in sachets which are plunged into boiling water for a minute and drained, and are then ready for use. The brand I used was Bia – the method works perfectly.