The name should be sufficient for anyone to want to try this dish. Köpoğlu means “son of a dog”, a fairly strong curse word in Turkish. It’s said to be used about the man who created this dish—a very popular meze dish at meyhanes and at home alike.
The origins of köpoğlu
Legend has it the creator of this dish was a man who loved his rakı. For those not in the know, rakı is a strong aniseed flavoured spirit popular in Turkey and the wider Mediterranean (it’s known as arak in the Arab world, and ouzo in Greece). He loved it so much, he rarely had much money for food.
He survived on a simple dish of fried vegetables from his own garden. If he had a few liras to spare, he’d top it with some yoghurt.
The dish is a masterclass in the virtues of simplicity—and works really well with rakı. Over time, the curse word has become a dear dish in the Turkish kitchen. Indeed, it’s one of the most commonly available meze dishes at Turkish meyhanes.
Key ingredients
The core of the dish is a combination of aubergines and peppers. Usually, both red and Turkish style green peppers are used.
The traditional way is to deep or shallow fry the vegetables in plenty of olive oil. I prefer to use the oven. Not to skimp on the oil—plenty of extra virgin olive oil is essential to bring out the right flavours of the aubergine—but for simplicity.
Speaking of which, I always use extra virgin olive oil when making meze dishes. It makes a huge difference to the texture and flavour of the final dish compared to using “regular” olive oil.
Köpoğlu is a summer dish, so I recommend making this with fresh tomatoes in season.
Go for a thick yoghurt high in fat—minimum 3%, preferably more. You’ll be rewarded in flavour.
Making köpoğlu
There are a myriad of ways of making and serving this dish, which consists of three parts:
- Fried or roasted vegetables
- Tomato sauce
- Yoghurt (with or without garlic)
As mentioned above, for simplicity, I prefer to oven roast the vegetables rather than deep fry them. Feel free to deep or shallow fry the vegetables if you prefer for a more traditional approach.
The tomato sauce should be fresh in flavour, so don’t overcook it. You’re not looking for a rich pasta sauce, but a fresh contrast to the fried or roasted vegetables.
Some like to mix the vegetables with the tomato sauce, then top with the yoghurt. This is also what I usually do.
While I’ve kept the vegetables visible in the photo, the dish is most often served with a full layer of yoghurt on top, making the vegetables and tomato sauce invisible until you dive in. If serving this way, it’s common to reserve a little of the tomato sauce for putting on top of the yoghurt.
Another way of serving it, is to place the three layers on top of one another. Fried vegetables at the bottom, then yoghurt, then tomato sauce.
I’ve also been served (and made!) versions where the vegetables are mixed with yoghurt and topped with tomato sauce. This is less common, but also delicious!
While the recipe calls for only one of these variations, feel free to do as you like!
Serving suggestions, making ahead & what to do with leftovers
Köpoğlu is a meze dish, and is best served as part of a meze table. It should be served at room temperature.
The dish also works well as a starter or side with barbecued meat, or as part of a smaller selection of vegetarian dishes.
Making ahead & leftovers
Once refrigerated, roasted aubergines never fully regain their delicious texture or flavour, even if left to come back to room temperature.
As such, you may make the dish earlier in the day (the fried vegetables will keep several hours at room temperature), but I don’t recommend making it the day before. If you do make it a few hours ahead, keep each of the three parts separate and assemble only when you’re ready to serve.
That said, any leftovers will keep in the fridge for a few days. It’s best to take it out of the fridge a while before eating, as it’ll be tastier when it’s no longer fridge cold.
Köpoğlu (Turkish aubergines with tomato sauce & yoghurt)
Ingredients
- 2 medium aubergines (eggplants), peeled in stripes, cut into 2–3 cm (1 in) dice
- 1 small red romano pepper, cut into 2–3 cm (1 in) dice
- 1 handful Turkish green peppers (sivri/çarliston biber), or 1 small green bell pepper, cut into 2–3 cm (1 in) dice
- 4 Tbsp olive oil, (I use a mild extra virgin)
- salt
Garlic yoghurt
- 250 g thick yoghurt, Greek or Turkish
- 1 small garlic clove, crushed
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- salt
Tomato sauce
- 2 Tbsp olive oil, (I use a mild extra virgin)
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 450 g tomato, coarsely grated
- ½ tsp pul biber (Aleppo pepper)
- salt
To finish (optional)
- 1 Tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley (Italian parsley)
- ½ tsp pul biber (Aleppo pepper)
How I make it
- Heat the oven to
230 °C. Line a baking tray with baking paper. - Toss the aubergines and peppers with 4 Tbsp olive oil and a little salt. Spread across the baking tray, keeping the peppers in the centre to prevent burning. Roast until completely tender, 25–30 minutes.
- Mix the yoghurt, garlic and lemon juice. Add salt to taste. Set aside.
- Heat a thick-bottomed frying pan over medium-low heat. Fry the garlic in olive oil, stirring constantly to avoid it burning, until fragrant, 30–45 seconds. Add the tomato, pul biber and a little salt. Stir well, then bring to the boil and cook until the sauce has darkened and thickened a little, around 5 minutes. The sauce should still taste fresh.
- Add the roasted vegetables to the tomato sauce. Mix and cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat. Leave to cool to room temperature.
- Spoon the vegetables onto a serving plate. Top with the garlic yoghurt and a sprinkling of parsley and pul biber.
