For some reason, corn has taken root in East Slavic cuisine, mainly in pickled form. They also like to bake it on the grill, or just gnaw on boiled ears on the beach at the beginning of the velvet season. This is completely in vain.
If you carefully study the nutritional composition and valuable properties of sweetcorn, you can only wonder why people are still looking for a means to lose weight and cleanse the body of toxins and toxins, free radionuclides. Why not include it in a regular diet for people suffering from diabetes, allergies of various origins, diseases of blood vessels, heart and digestive organs? Why take dubious means to build muscle when there is maize (corn) within the geographic and economic reach - one of the first cereals that provided humanity with bread?
Note that in corn contains up to 80% unsaturated fatty acids, which for many products is very rare. The invaluable role of these compounds is constantly reiterated by the luminaries of medicine and local doctors, websites are full of advertising of dietary supplements, in which network marketing obsessively offers to buy a magical remedy for health and longevity at unbelievable prices, while on the shelves of grocery stores “bags” of cornmeal are “bored” which costs a penny. Corn grits and flour do not contain gluten, and this fact deserves the interest of fans of a gluten-free diet, but do not confuse corn flour with starch, one of the derived products from the same cereal.
So, it's time to engage in the popularization of dishes of corn grits or flour, and fortunately, good recipes have been preserved in the cuisines of Latin America, the Balkan Peninsula. Corn grits have taken root in Caucasian cuisine and in some cuisines of the Asian continent. This will help you find good culinary ideas for your own recipes.
Mamalyga from corn grits - basic technological principles
Many people have heard that mamalyga is a thick corn porridge, a traditional and favorite dish of Moldavian cuisine. There is a false opinion that mamalyga is a type of Moldavian bread. This is not entirely true, although corn flour bread recipes also exist, but not more than 30% are added to bread dough.
From corn grits, like from any other, you can cook many dishes, but since we are talking about mamalyga, we will focus on the technology of cooking this dish, as the basis of other delicious recipes. In Moldova, mamalyga is always served with sauces, appetizers and is not an independent dish.
The main reason for the indifference to the dish lies in the complexity of cooking corn porridge. Most likely, this technology has not been fully mastered by housewives of the East European part of the CIS countries. Cooking corn porridge is really different from cooking dishes from buckwheat, oatmeal, rice and others, traditional for our East Slavic cuisine, cereals. But, as they say, it’s not the gods who burn the pots, and everything once happens for the first time.
First, note that corn flour has a different degree of grinding, like wheat, rye, barley and all other cereals. For mamalyga it is necessary to use the grits of the finest grinding. In other words, this is not cereal, but flour. It is important to note here that the varieties of white and yellow corn are significantly different and affect the taste of corn porridge. For the preparation of hominy or polenta, popular in Italian cuisine, as well as varieties of corn porridge in European countries, mainly yellow flour is used. Georgian, Azerbaijani and other cuisines of the peoples of the Caucasus are rich in white corn flour dishes. In Mexico and the countries of Central and South America, the birthplace of maize, all known varieties of corn are used in cooking.
So, if you want to try dishes of other national cuisines from corn grits, then pay attention to this feature, because otherwise you will not succeed: the taste of yellow corn porridge is pronounced, in contrast to porridge from white cereal.
Now let's move on to a detailed description of the cooking technology of mamalyga or polenta - choose the name you like, but the basic principle is the same.
The main recipe for mamalyga from corn grits
The porridge consistency is viscous. The ratio of water to cornmeal is 1: 3, for 500 g of flour 1.5 l of water is required. If porridge is boiled in milk, then milk is combined with water in a ratio of 1: 4. Cooking time - at least 40 minutes. The first 15 minutes, the porridge is cooked with intensive heating, and after that the heating temperature drops to the minimum values, and further cooking occurs in the mode of languishing. Salt and a third of sifted and dried corn flour are added to boiling water. Porridge is cooked with constant stirring until thickening begins. Then in the center of the pan it is necessary to install a wooden rolling pin, and with a wooden spatula constantly move the porridge from the edge of the dish so that the porridge does not burn, and the water evaporates evenly. For a more delicate taste, at the beginning of cooking, butter or other fats are added, depending on the side dish, which is sure to be served with mamalyga.
The question arises: where to put the cereal left after sifting? For a good cook, all products are used to the maximum, and there should be no large waste. Soak the cereal in milk or water, add vegetables, fruits, cream cheese or cottage cheese, minced meat, spices, and cook cutlets, meatballs, meatballs, muffins - a culinary fantasy will help you choose the right recipe. But cook mamalygu only from flour, because it is the basis of the dish.
The prepared and cooled porridge is transferred to the dish, turning the pan over. It looks like a cake, thick and not friable. In fact, corn porridge in this form is a semi-finished product from which you can cook a lot of interesting dishes: appetizers, casseroles, rolls and even desserts, if you did not forget to add sugar to the water during cooking. The cooled layer is cut not with a knife, but with a harsh thread, pieces of the desired size and shape.
Now let's see what can be prepared further from mamalyga. Below are recipes that can be prepared in the original, or modified by adding your own ideas.
1. Corn grits and scrambled eggs with ham, cheese and vegetables
A quick and hearty breakfast for the whole family is the dream of every woman. If breakfast, moreover, will look original so that the family does not act up at the table, then this is the beginning of a successful day. There is such an option.
Products:
Mamalyga 0.6 kg (according to the main recipe)
Eggs, dietary 6 pcs.
Milk 200 ml
Ham 400 g
Ghee 100 g
Green onion 300 g
Tomatoes 250 g
Salt
Order of preparation:
Prepare mamalyga on milk in the evening, described in the main recipe. Transfer to a cloth, on a dish and leave until morning. In the morning, cut into cubes using a thread, or if the diameter of the pan and pan in which the porridge was cooked is the same, divide the porridge across the circle, with layers 1.5 cm thick.
Lubricate a deep pan with a removable handle with oil, put a layer of hominy in it. Lay the sliced tomatoes on top, put the ham on the tomatoes, diced. Pour lightly melted butter, put in a preheated oven and bake until rosy. If desired, you can sprinkle ham with ground black pepper, replace with other meat, lard or sausages.
Beat eggs until 2-3 times the volume, salt and pour cold milk. Pour the mass on top. Bake until cooked by lowering the temperature in the oven to 90 - 100 ° C. As soon as the omelet is ready, pour the dish with the remaining ghee and sprinkle with chopped green onions. These are the pies you can cook for breakfast!
2. Mamalyga from corn grits: a delicious snack with cheese
After breakfast left mamalyga? Moldovan porridge can even be made an element of a romantic dinner by adding very few ingredients, using a special cooking technique.
Ingredients:
Mamalyga 200 g
Soft cheese (50%) 300 g
Cherry liqueur (tincture) 20 ml
Cognac 30 ml
Dry wine, white 200 ml
Garlic
Caraway
Butter
Nutmeg
Ground pepper
Cooking:
Start by choosing the right dishes: a hot appetizer will have to be served on the table in the container in which it will be baked in the oven. Therefore, choose a beautiful heat-resistant form and prepare a metal stand.
Cut the small pig into small cubes, circles (using a notch) or other shapes. Grate the baking dish well with oil mixed with chopped garlic. Preheat the oven to 200 ° C. Pour warmed wine mixed with spices into the mold, put slices of hominy covered with thin plates of cheese, which should be slightly larger in diameter than mugs of hominy. Sprinkle cheese with caraway seeds: it will decorate the dish and improve digestion. Put the dish in the oven, wait until the wine has evaporated, the cheese will melt and cover with a slightly golden crust. Place the dish immediately on the stand and pour a cocktail of cognac and cherry liqueur. Turn off the lights and light the snack. When the alcohol burns out, you can try. Do not forget to serve red wine with the dish.
3. Mamalyga from corn grits: "koloboks" with cheese and cilantro
Try another delicious breakfast option.
Brine Cheese 400 g
Cilantro
Garlic
Hominy (ready porridge with milk) 1 kg
Dried paprika 50 g
Corn grits for breading
Butter 260 g
Deep-frying
Garnish:
Yogurt 800 ml
Spicy tomato sauce
Black olives
Output: 4 servings
Cooking:
Mash porridge with a fork, adding 100 g of butter. Rub well with your hands, until a homogeneous consistency. Divide into pieces of 100 or 150 g. Pour corn grits onto the working surface, form round cakes.
Mash the cheese with a fork with the remaining butter, adding spices, garlic and finely chopped cilantro. Put 1.5 - 2 tablespoons of the filling on the corn tortillas, roll the balls, roll them in corn breading. Deep-fried and serve with olives, yogurt and tomato sauce.
4. Maize grits: grilled liver sausages
Ingredients:
800 g chicken chicken
Onion, sautéed 250 g
Pepper
Garlic
Salt
Mamalyga 500 g
2 eggs
Cooking:
Thoroughly mix the prepared liver, onion, garlic, spices and porridge with a blender, bringing to a homogeneous mass. Add eggs and form semi-finished products of a cylindrical shape, with a diameter of no more than two centimeters.
Fry on a wire rack. Serve baked eggplant, tomatoes, garlic sauce as a side dish.
5. Corn grits: muffins with dried fruits and cream
If you want gluten-free sweet pastries to not have a distinctive smack of cornmeal, order white cornmeal (from white variety) via the Internet. You can try to veil the taste of aromatic confectionery additives: cocoa, fruit essences, cognac or rum.
Cooking:
Mamalyga on milk (see the main recipe) 600 g
Oil 200 g
Baking powder 40 g
Assorted dried fruits (candied fruits, raisins, dried apricots) 150 g
Vanilla 10 g
Sugar 150 g and 200 g
Eggs 1.5 pcs. (1 yolk and a whole egg)
Apricot liqueur (Amaretto) 100 ml
Oranges 2 pcs.
Agar 10 g or gelatin 25 g
Cream, confectionery 300 ml
Wheat flour 140 g
Order of preparation:
Remove the zest from the oranges, set aside to prepare the dough. Combine the juice with sugar (200 g), bring to a boil and add soaked agar. Boil the syrup for about five minutes. Pour into a flat dish with a low side lined with foil. When it hardens, cut the jelly into cubes.
Put the eggs in the bowl of the combine and beat with sugar. Add soft butter, vanilla, liquor. Mash porridge cooked in milk, mash with a fork, combining with flour and dried fruits. Connect both masses. Stir until plastic.
Fill out the cupcake forms on? parts of the volume, leave them for 15-20 minutes, allowing to come up. Bake at 180 ° C.
Having checked the readiness of the cupcakes with a wooden skewer, transfer the finished products to a linen napkin, cool.
Whip chilled confectionery cream. Cover the surface of the cupcakes with butter cream using a jigging bag, sprinkle with pieces of orange jelly.
6. Mamalyga made from cornmeal with pumpkin and cheese
Ingredients:
Brynza (or cottage cheese) 300 g
Mint
Mamalyga 600 g
Garlic
Baked pumpkin with sugar 200 g
Nuts (any) 50 g
Butter 90 g
Sour cream - for serving
Cooking:
Put boiled on water, warm mamalyga on a rectangular linen napkin or gauze. Cover with a second cloth. Using a rolling pin, roll out an even rectangular layer of porridge (1 cm). Cover it with a layer of feta cheese stuffed with garlic, chopped mint and small cubes of baked pumpkin. Form a roll. Place it on the prepared pan. Lubricate with melted butter and sprinkle with nut crumbs. Brown in the oven and serve with sour cream, cut into portions.
Corn grumble - useful tips
Please note that corn grits are well stored, but not more than six months, in tightly closed jars. When buying cereals, check the date of its manufacture on the packaging.
Cornmeal will help in the treatment of hypertension. Pour a tablespoon of flour with boiled water overnight, stir. In the morning, drain the water, leaving the sediment in a glass, and drink on an empty stomach.
