Russian Root Vegetable Salad-Vinegret

I was in charge of Teacher Appreciation Lunch last week and was quite busy with preparations so I was not able to post, but now I have to, since the recipes I used were liked and requested by the teacher's themselves.
This salad is a classic Russian salad, that every kid grows up eating. It is a staple of Russian cuisine called Vinegret. It simply delicious and easy to make, but  few ingredients may surprise you.

Sorry about the quality of the picture, it was made with an iPhone
and will be replaced when I make this salad again(one of these days).

Although this is not a flattering photo, the salad is really good. These colors also do not stay, the longer the salad stays mixed, the more it becomes uniformly of purple beet color. That does not affect the taste, however.
I believe that dressing makes the salad and here I use non-refined sunflower oil. My mom says that the shoe laces will be delicious if served with garlic sauce. Thus, sesame oil will give most of the salads oriental flare, and extra virgin olive oil will definitely remind you of the Mediterranean. Here, most of the Russian flavor comes in the form of the oil, it is very important. Having said that, I do not expect that you will rush out to get it, so it can be substituted with a flavorless oil. However, if you are interested it is found in Russian stores or those that also cater to Russian clientele like Persian store in San Jose, called Setareh Market.
3-4  potatoes (I prefer Yukon Gold but baking potatoes will do, just use medium sized)
2-3 large beets (about the size of the potatoes or somewhat less)
2-3 carrots
1 red onion
3/4-1 can of green peas drained
1 large or several small dill pickles diced small
1 cup of squeezed dry sauerkraut (approx 1/2 of 1lbs glass jar)
3-4 sprigs of each fresh dill and flat leaf parsley or 1/2-1 of dry dill.
1/2 -3/4 cup of non refined sunflower oil
Boil the root vegetables until done. If you are concerned about the color of the presentations, beets should be boiled separately. Carrots will take less time to cook, so either take them out sooner, or add them to the pot later. As soon as the vegetables done, take it out of water and allow to cool enough where you can handle them. The potatoes are peeled and diced in quarter inch dice and placed a large bowl. The beets are diced slightly smaller and placed in a separate bowl mixed with sunflower oil. The rest of the ingredients like carrots and onion diced and added to potatoes but pickles are diced very small. Drain canned peas and add to the salad. Sauerkraut is drained and squeezed well. It seems that you are adding a lot of it to the salad but consider that vegetables were not salted when they were cooked, so both pickles and sauerkraut definitely give a lot of flavor.  A few sprigs of parsley and dill is finely chopped but dill can be substituted for dry. Dill is one of the most popular Russian herbs along with flat leaf parsley and is used almost always either ar garnish or an ingredient. Unlike most dry spices, that carry stronger flavor once they are dry, I do not find it to be true in the case of dill and add more if it is dry. Do not substitute dry parsley for fresh, it does not work if fresh parsley is not available it is OK not to add any. Salt and pepper are added last but it needs to be done with consideration to other salty ingredients and I do it to taste and can't tell how much exactly. Some pickles are saltier then others.
Traditionally, this salad is made not with German style sauerkraut but the Russian style fermented cabbage that takes less time and has somewhat different taste. Occasionally, I make it myself and more often my mother-in-law makes fermented cabbage and I will share the method and the recipe sometimes later. Using canned  German sauerkraut is my adaptation of the recipe.  If I make this salad for a party I do not mix in the beets until it is almost time to eat, but for the family I try to mix beets and oil with the rest of ingredients almost right away while the potatoes are still hot. Salad is going to be uniformly beet in color in a few hours anyway, so I prefer the flavor over presentation at home. It does make for an impressive looking salad, but I like it because of all the vegetables that are in it.