Turkey's kumpir craze: Baked potatoes steal the spotlight
Potatoes are popular not only in numerous places. They become a must-have in Turkey when stuffed with various ingredients and baked in the oven. Known as kumpir, these delicious treats are available in both meat and vegetarian versions and are sold in bars and on the streets. In Turkey, they are even more popular than kebabs.
What does kumpir mean and where does it come from?
Kumpir is another name for a baked potato whose flesh is mixed with meat or vegetables. Although this simple and tasty dish is extremely popular in Turkey today, it originally comes from the former countries of Yugoslavia. Kumpir is most often prepared with meat options such as lamb, mutton, or chicken, but there is also a vegetarian version available.
How is kumpir served?
In many Turkish bars, you can choose your own toppings. A baked potato is filled with hot puree, which is then mixed with meat and vegetables. The dish is topped with cold sauces, like kebabs or burgers.
With a kumpir in a paper bowl, you can head to the park or the coast. It tastes best in the summer outdoors, but nothing stops you from preparing this delicious, filling, and vacation-memory-inducing dish at home.
Kumpir, or Turkish-style potatoes with chorizo or tofu – recipe for a meat and vegetarian version
For this dish, choose large, well-shaped potato tubers. In Turkey, each typically weighs about 1.1 lbs.
Ingredients for 2 servings:
- 2 large potatoes
- 3.5 oz chorizo sausage or 3.5 oz tofu
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 red bell pepper
- 3.5 oz yellow cheese
- For the tofu version: olive oil and soy sauce
Instructions:
- Scrub the potatoes and cook them in salted water with the skins on. Cut them in half or make a slit to scoop out the flesh.
- For the meat version: Fry sliced chorizo with finely chopped onion, garlic, and bell pepper in a pan.
- For the vegetarian version: Sauté the onion in olive oil, add sliced garlic, diced bell pepper, and crumbled tofu, pour in soy sauce, and mix.
- Mix the pan toppings with the potato flesh.
- Fill the insides of the scooped-out potato skins with the mixture, sprinkle with grated yellow cheese, and place in an oven preheated to 390 degrees Fahrenheit for about 7-10 minutes.
- Serve with tomato salsa, horseradish sauce, or garlic sauce.
