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Loaded Baked Potato (Kumpir)

Kumpir is a popular fast food in Turkey which is essentially a loaded baked potato with numerous toppings. You can get your starch, protein, vitamins all from this tasty dish. Since I did not consume this food much when growing up in Turkey I do not make it frequently in my home. There is a very famous kumpir chain in Turkey which I ran across a couple years ago while strolling through the streets of Vancouver with my husband. It was the same Kumpir chain from Turkey. I was surprised Kumpir had made it all the way to this side of the world with the same name. We did not eat there but that day I thought to myself I could share a Kumpir recipe with everyone in my blog. I made it several times since then and finally I am sharing one of those recipes with my favorite toppings.

You can be very creative and adventurous with the toppings. You may use chicken, beef or all vegetarian. You may add sliced olives, pickles, corn, dill and other vegetables. The sky is the limit. Enjoy with a salad and/or plain yogurt.

Note: If you’d like the skin of your potatoes crispy, do not wrap in aluminum foil.

4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
1 lb New York Strip steak or any type of other meat (diced)
1 small red bell pepper (diced)
1 small green bell pepper (diced)
4 cremini mushrooms (sliced)
6-7 green onions (chopped)
2 tbsp parsley (chopped)-optional
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp ground black pepper
4 tbps grated sheep milk kasseri cheese (or any other desired cheese)
Mayonnaise (adjust to taste)
Ketchup (adjust to taste)

Wash potatoes well using a vegetable brush. Dry potatoes with paper towel and pierce from a couple places with a fork. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1.5 hours. Wrapping in aluminum foil is used for softer skin. If crispy skin is desired, do not wrap in aluminum foil.

Heat a pan and add the meat. Sauté for several minutes until the meat releases its juices. Pour out the juices that are released from the meat and add the olive oil. Add green bell pepper, red bell pepper and mushroom and stir for 5 minutes. Add salt, red pepper flakes and ground black pepper. Continue mixing until the peppers are softened.

Cut the potatoes lengthwise from the middle with a knife. Sprinkle a pinch of salt. Add a few spoonfuls of the meat, red/green pepper and mushroom mixture. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp of the cheese. Add ketchup and mayo. Sprinkle with green onions and parsley. Enjoy warm.

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Potato Fingers (Patatesli Köfte)

I am back. This is the longest break I have taken so far from blogging and hope to never do it again. This was actually not an intentional break but it has been so busy for me that it was so easy to neglect my blog and e-mails. During my scarce free time I have been spending more time gardening (unsuccessfully) instead of cooking, however, I hope to cook more delightful Turkish dishes from now on and share them with you all. Once I get better in gardening I also will share the fruit my labor with you. Even though last spring I planted tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, eggplant, onions, basil, dill and a few other vegetables, we have only eaten 1 small eggplant and some basil this whole summer. The plants are growing very well but the flowers and the fruit on them keep falling for some reason. I have one bell pepper and 1 cucumber that seem to have potential to be in our salad in the next couple of weeks unless the temperature drops in Houston. I have learned quite a bit about gardening with trial and error and hope to have better luck next year and cook with the fruits of my organic garden.

Now to our dinner…yes this was our dinner tonight. They turned out so good that both my husband and I finished all these fingers in the picture tonight including the garnishes. These delicious fingers were frequently made by my mom when I was growing up. There is also a red lentil version which also tastes terrific but the potato version is more common in Southern Turkey. So I took some tips from my mom during my recent visit to Turkey on this recipe. She adds basil seeds in it but I am not a fan of basil seeds so I left them out. You may garnish with lettuce, cucumbers, radishes or any greens you like. They’re best when they’re wrapped in lettuce and eaten.

2 cups finely ground bulgur
2 medium potatoes
8 shallots
1 cup chopped parsley
1 cup olive oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp red pepper paste
½ tbsp salt (or adjust to your taste)
1 cup hot water

Boil potatoes for 30-40 minutes and cool. Peel and mash the potatoes and set aside.

Place the finely ground bulgur in a deep bowl. Pour the hot water on the bulgur and mix until all bulgur is soaked. Cover bowl and set aside for 15 minutes.

Heat olive oil in a shallow non-stick pan on medium heat. Add sliced onions and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the shallots are soft and translucent. Add tomato paste and red pepper paste and stir for 2-3 minutes. Add parsley and turn off the heat. Mix well and let it cool.

Add the potatoes on the bulgur and pour the olive oil, tomato and red pepper paste mixture on it. Add salt and mix for 5-10 minutes until all the ingredients are well incorporated and soft. Pull a piece of the bulgur and potato mixture and squeeze it in your palm. Repeat until all the bulgur and potato mixture is used up. Garnish with tomatoes, parsley, mint and green onions. Serve at room temperature with plain yogurt.

Note: These potato fingers taste delicious when wrapped up in romaine lettuce while eating.

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