Stuffed Potatoes
Overview
Potatoes cooked until soft, halved and hollowed out, filled with spiced minced meat and cheese, and baked until golden. No country is named, though the seasoning points somewhere. Curry powder, paprika, turmeric and mixed herbs in a minced meat filling is a combination that turns up across South African and West African home cooking rather than in European or American stuffed potatoes, which lean on bacon, sour cream and chives. There is nothing else in the recipe to place it, so no country has been assigned, but the spicing is worth noticing. The construction is sound. Hollowing out a cooked potato and refilling it works because the skin holds its shape while the interior has already softened, and the second bake crisps the outside while melting the cheese. Leaving a reasonable wall of potato inside the skin is the part people get wrong, scooped too thin, it collapses when filled. Two problems with the source. Its temperature conversion is wrong, the Fahrenheit and Celsius figures it gives as equivalent are about fifty degrees apart. And its ingredient list carries no quantities at all beyond the potatoes, plus a line instructing the cook to season according to preference, which is not an ingredient. Its prose also contains stray HTML fragments.
Ingredients
Directions
- 1
Cook the whole potatoes in boiling water until medium soft, firm enough to hold their shape when hollowed.
- 2
Set the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
- 3
Cook the mince in oil until loose and crumbly.
- 4
Mix in the chopped onion and cook until it turns glossy.
- 5
Work in the garlic, chopped peppers and the spices.
- 6
Cook until the flavours have developed.
- 7
Pour in the stock and cook for 15 minutes, until most of the liquid has gone.
- 8
Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the middles, leaving a reasonable wall of potato inside each skin so it does not collapse.
- 9
Fill the potato halves with the cooked mince and top with grated cheese.
- 10
Grease an oven tray and bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.
Africook’s Notes
Personal notes from Xeno.Cooks- Leave a wall of potato inside the skin when you scoop. Hollowed too thin, the halves collapse under the filling.
- Cook the mince dry. A wet filling makes the potato soggy from the inside.
- Do not overcook the potatoes at the boiling stage. They need to hold their shape through hollowing and a second bake.
- Keep the scooped-out potato, mashed with butter it is a side dish, or work it back into the filling to bulk it out.
- The source's temperature conversion is wrong. 180°C is 350°F, not 400°F.
- The curry powder, paprika and turmeric are what give this its character. Leaving them out gives you an ordinary stuffed potato.
Questions cooks ask
How much potato should I leave in the skin?
Enough to hold its shape, roughly half a centimetre of potato against the skin all the way round. Scooped out too enthusiastically, the halves have no structure and collapse under the weight of the filling once they go back in the oven. The scooped-out potato is not waste: mash it with butter as a side, or work some back into the mince to stretch the filling.
What temperature should the oven be?
180°C, which is about 350°F. The source gives 400°F and 180°C as if they were the same figure, and they are not: 400°F is roughly 200°C. Either temperature works for the second bake, which is only there to crisp the outside and melt the cheese, but the two numbers as printed do not match and it is worth knowing before you set the dial.
Where is this dish from?
No country is named. What is identifiable is the seasoning: curry powder, paprika, turmeric and mixed herbs in minced meat is a South African and West African home-cooking combination rather than a European or American one, where stuffed potatoes tend towards bacon, sour cream and chives. There is nothing else in the recipe to place it, so no attribution has been invented, but the spicing is a genuine marker.
Can I make them ahead?
Yes, and they are well suited to it. Cook the potatoes and the filling, assemble the halves, and refrigerate them unbaked for up to a day. Bake from cold, allowing an extra ten minutes or so. They also freeze assembled, bake from frozen at the same temperature for around 30 minutes. Making the filling a day ahead improves it, as the spices settle.
Reviews
Be the first to rate this recipe
Cooked it? Your rating helps the next person decide whether to try it.
No reviews on this one yet. If you have cooked it, yours would be the first.
