Roasted sumac potatoes

Sumac is the perfect friend for these twice cooked potatoes.

Apr 16, 2024

∙ Paid

Hey there,

An apology is due. I completely forgot to send your recipe last Sunday! With the holidays in Turkey last week, it remained overlooked in my drafts folder until I returned to write the second instalment of the traveller’s letters from Mardin and Midyat today.

But better late than never. Hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do!

Vidar

If you haven’t tried sumac on your roast potatoes before, you’re in for a treat! They work wonderfully together in this dish, which is inspired by Greek lemon potatoes, but with sumac added for extra depth of flavour.

The potatoes are pretty versatile, but work particularly well with chicken or fish. That said, they’ll work a treat alongside grilled meat as well. They’re also an excellent addition to any table of sharing dishes.

A couple of things to note before cooking

You can’t really ever go wrong with potatoes, but for best results, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

These potatoes are twice cooked. That is, boiled first, then roasted. Make sure not to overcook the potatoes in the boiling part (remember, they’ll finish in the oven). They should have softened, but not cooked all the way through. It’s not a disaster if they’re cooked through, but mealy potatoes tend to fall apart all too easily, so set a timer.

Also, be patient. Leave the potatoes until completely cooled before adding the oil and lemon. This allows for a lot of steam to escape. Less moisture means crispier potatoes. For the same reason, I like briefly opening the oven door a few times during cooking, especially in the first 20 minutes. This allows any buildup of steam in the oven to escape.

Make sure to use a good quality olive oil, if you can, and be generous with it!

Afiyet olsun!

If you missed the deep dive on sumac last year, you can learn more about this wonderful spice here: