" Middle Eastern " Twice-Baked Potatoes

bluemoon downunder's Note:

A delicious yet low-fat twice-baked potato side dish with a blend of classic Middle Eastern flavours: chickpeas, cumin and coriander. Serve with roasts or with your favourite Middle Eastern main course dish. Adapted from "Practical Cookery: low fat". These potatoes could also be served on their own as a light vegetarian meal. In view of the comments by reviewers about the potatoes being a bit dry, I have added a tablespoon of tahini. I have also added some garlic. I'm not sure how the recipe escaped having garlic in it when I first posted it!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 4 baking potatoes (each about 300g)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 (430 g) can chickpeas, drained
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2/3 cup natural low-fat yogurt
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
2. Wash the potatoes to remove any dirt, pat dry with paper towels.
3. Prick the potatoes all over with a fork, brush with olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Place the potatoes on a lightly greased baking tray and bake for about an hour or until cooked through.
5. Cool for about 10 minutes.
6. While the potatoes are roasting, drain the chickpeas, place in a large mixing bowl and mash with a fork.
7. Add the ground coriander, the cumin, the crushed garlic and half the fresh coriander. Cover the bowl with with plastic wrap, and set aside.
8. Once they have cooled, taking care to keep the shells intact, halve the cooked potatoes and scoop out the flesh.
9. Mash the potato flesh until smooth and gently mix with the chickpea mixture.
10. Fold in the yoghurt and tahini, and add a little more of either of these if the mixture seems too dry, season with the pepper and salt, to taste.
11. Place the potato shells on a lightly greased baking tray and fill them with the potato and chickpea mixture.
12. Place the filled potato shells in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until heated through.
13. Serve the potatoes with the remaining half of the chopped coriander.

Reviews

[Enjolinfam]

These turned out to be really nice "middle eastern" style twice baked potatoes! I liked your adjustments of adding 2 cloves garlic and 1 Tablespoon tahini though honestly I ended up using 3 large galic cloves (I'm a big garlic lover!) and 3 Tablespoons total of the tahini (also a big tahini lover). I also added 2 teaspoons of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar for our own taste though it tasted nice already before I added it. They are healthier than most twice baked potatoes which is also a real plus for me and I always love trying something new! Thanks! Made for Zaar Tag.

[windywood]

The chickpeas were new to me, but I liked them. I also liked the tang of the yogurt. I added a little sprinkle of paprika for color. We had pickled turnips on the side. Very tasty. Might be good with a sprinkle of feta cheese crumbles on top also.

[Mama's Kitchen (Hope)]

Sorry Blue! I agree with Rita. This just was not well received by my family. since Rita said they were dry I increased the yogurt to 1 cup but that didn't seem to really help. Maybe some good olive oil or butter in the potato mixture? Sorry!