Description
Turkish baked potatoes (kumpir) are fluffy baked potatoes with crispy shells whose insides have been mashed to perfection with butter and cheese. They are then adorned with a delicious array of toppings. No wonder that it’s one of the most popular street foods in Turkey!
Ingredients
For the baked potatoes:
- 60 g butter (½ stick)
- 225 g Turkish kaşar cheese (kaşar peyniri) (8 oz), or replace with finely shredded mozzarella
- 4 large baking potatoes, 340 g to 475 g per potato (12 oz to 17 oz per potato)
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
Traditional topping ideas:
- sliced olives
- chopped pickles
- drained can of corn
- Turkish sausages (sucuk), cooked and chopped
- ketchup
- mayonnaise
- see the post for more ideas
Instructions
- Prepare the butter and cheese. Cut the butter into small cubes and place onto a small plate. Cover the plate with plastic wrap or aluminium foil and leave at room temperature. Shred the cheese onto a plate using a box grater. I use the medium shredding holes, not the largest ones nor the tiniest ones. Similarly, cover the plate with plastic wrap or aluminium foil and leave it to the side until needed. I find that butter and cheese incorporate much better into the potato flesh when they are at room temperature and not fridge-cold.
- Prepare the potatoes. Preheat the oven to 220°C (430°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Rinse and scrub the potatoes under running water until they are clean of dirt. Dry them well using paper towels or a tea towel. Prick the potatoes all over with a fork about half a dozen times. Listen, I know people say it’s a myth that an unpricked potato will explode in the oven because of pent-up steam inside the potato, but I hate cleaning and I’m not taking the risk. If you think it’s useless to prick your potatoes, don’t prick them. Arrange the potatoes on the baking sheet.
- Bake. Bake the potatoes in the middle of the oven until they are completely tender, about 1h45. If your potatoes are larger than mine, they may need to cook for a longer time in the oven. The skin will be crispy, but you should be able to pierce the center with a sharp knife easily, and the inside should feel tender when you move the tip of the blade around (delicately). If you have a digital thermometer, check the internal temperature of the center of the largest potato. If it registers 97°C (207°F), then the potatoes are ready. Remove the potatoes from the oven.
- Quickly mash the potato flesh. Transfer the potatoes to a large cutting board. Be careful as they are burning hot! As soon as they are on the board, cut the potatoes in half lengthways but not all the way through (if you go all the way, it’s not the end of the world). Season each opened-up potato with ½ tsp of fine sea salt. Dot each potato with ¼ of the cubed butter. Mash the flesh of one of the potatoes with a fork, trying not to tear the skin, until the flesh is smooth and resembles mashed potatoes. Repeat with the other potatoes. Sprinkle ¼ of the shredded cheese over each potato. Fold the cheese through the flesh of one of the potatoes with the fork, using the same mashing movement. Keep at it until the cheese is combined and (mostly) melted. Repeat with the other potatoes and serve straight away with your chosen toppings. Try to work quickly so that they are still hot when served. I usually ask someone to do it with me to go faster because I am no kumpir master (yet).
- Reheat (optional: it’s not traditional and I don’t do it). Traditionally, the kumpirs are served straight away. However, if you think too much time has passed between the moment you took them out of the oven and when they are ready to serve, and that they might be too cold for your liking, you can quickly reheat them in the oven before serving. Decrease the heat to 180°C (355°F) and return the potatoes to the lined baking sheet. Open them well so that their flesh is exposed to the heat better. Return the sheet to the oven for 1 min only. Remove the potatoes from the oven and mash the flesh for a few seconds with the fork to ensure everything is combined. Serve straight away with your chosen toppings.
If you leave them for longer than 1 min, the fat will rise to the surface, the cheese will melt completely and might flow out of the baked potatoes. The texture of the interior will be more akin to a twice-baked potato than a kumpir. After 1 min in the oven, they will be 10°C (50°F) hotter. I am usually not bothered because I don’t find that it makes a great difference and I worry about ruining the kumpir’s traditional consistency.
Notes
You can keep leftover Turkish baked potatoes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. I usually store any leftover kumpir without the toppings, as I don’t think the toppings reheat very well (texture-wise). I would rather top my reheated kumpir with ‘fresh’ toppings, but you do you!
To reheat, preheat your oven to 180°C (355°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the kumpirs on the sheet and reheat them in the center of the oven for 20 min. Alternatively, reheat it in the microwave on high for 2 min. In both cases, you can plunge a knife into the center of the kumpir for a few seconds and then touch the tip of the blade with your finger or your tongue to gauge if the potato is hot enough for you. The texture of the kumpir will change upon reheating, as the cheese mixed into the mashed potato will melt more than it did initially.
(I’ll be honest, most of the time I can’t be bothered with reheating the leftovers and I’ll eat my leftover kumpir cold. It’s pretty good cold too, I swear!)
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 kumpir
- Calories: 626 (without toppings)
