Kumpir
Kumpir is a street food that transforms a simple baked potato into something substantial. Turkish vendors split and fluff the hot flesh, then layer in butter, cheese, and sautéed peppers and onions in careful proportion. The technique matters: the butter melts into the potato's steam while the cheese gets slightly tacky, everything unified by heat rather than mixed into a mash. It's how Istanbul feeds itself at dusk.
Instructions
If you order kumpir in Turkey, the standard filling is first, lots of butter mashed into the potato, followed by cheese.
There’s then a row of other toppings that you can just point at to your heart’s content – sweetcorn, olives, salami, coleslaw, Russian salad, allsorts – and you walk away with an over-stuffed potato because you got ever-excited by the choices on offer.
Grate (roughly – you can use as much as you like) 150g of cheese.
Finely chop one onion and one sweet red pepper.
Put these ingredients into a large bowl with a good sprinkling of salt and pepper, chilli flakes (optional)..
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