Mămăligă cu brânză
Romanian and Moldovan mămăligă is thick cornmeal porridge cooked in water until it can be turned out onto a board and cut with a thread. For breakfast it comes with brânză — salty white cheese, often sheep's — thick sour cream and a fried egg (mămăligă cu brânză și smântână). It is the simple, filling food of Carpathian shepherds. The whole secret is pouring the cornmeal into boiling water in a thin stream and patient stirring — then there are no lumps.
Your own work in that: 5 min.
- Boiling the water 5 min
- Cooking the polenta 30 min
- Fried eggs 5 min
- Serving 5 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneBring salted water to the boil
In a heavy-based pot bring the water to the boil with the salt. A heavy base matters — the polenta cooks for half an hour and catches in a thin pot.
Ingredients: 250 g medium-ground cornmeal · 1000 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 30 g butter
Pour in the cornmeal in a thin stream
Lower the heat and pour in the cornmeal in a thin stream, whisking all the time. Tipped in at once, it forms lumps that are hard to get rid of.
Ingredients: 250 g medium-ground cornmeal · 1000 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 30 g butter
A thin stream, with a whisk — no lumps.Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon
Once it thickens, swap the whisk for a wooden spoon and cook over low heat 25–30 minutes, stirring every few minutes and scraping the bottom. Careful — the thick mixture spits.
Ingredients: 250 g medium-ground cornmeal · 1000 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 30 g butter
Check it is done
The mămăligă is ready when it pulls away from the sides of the pot and a spoon stands up in the middle. Raw cornmeal tastes gritty — if you notice it, cook a few minutes more.
Ingredients: 250 g medium-ground cornmeal · 1000 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 30 g butter
It pulls from the sides — the spoon stands up.Stir in butter and turn out
Stir in the butter, then turn the mămăligă out onto a wooden board moistened with water, shaping a round. Leave a few minutes to firm slightly.
Ingredients: 250 g medium-ground cornmeal · 1000 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 30 g butter
Fry the eggs
Meanwhile fry the eggs in butter over medium heat, until the whites set and the yolks stay runny.
Ingredients: 200 g brânză telemea or feta · 200 g thick sour cream · 4 pcs eggs · 10 g butter for frying
Cut with a thread
Traditionally mămăligă is cut with a taut thread, not a knife, which it sticks to. Cut the round into thick slices.
Ingredients: 250 g medium-ground cornmeal · 1000 ml water · 1 tsp salt · 30 g butter
A thread — a knife sticks.Serve with cheese, cream and egg
Lay the slices on plates, scatter with crumbled cheese, add a spoon of sour cream and a fried egg. Eat by mixing it all together on the plate — as it is eaten in Romania.
Ingredients: 200 g brânză telemea or feta · 200 g thick sour cream · 4 pcs eggs · 10 g butter for frying
Before you start
Which cornmeal
Medium-ground cornmeal is best, neither as fine as starch nor as coarse as polenta grits. Look for it as mămăligă flour in Balkan food shops or as cornmeal in well-stocked supermarkets.
Bulz
Leftover mămăligă becomes bulz: balls of polenta with cheese inside, baked or grilled until the cheese melts. Traditionally it is shepherds' food (bulz ciobănesc).
The eggs
A runny yolk is not fully set. For children, pregnant women and older people fry the eggs covered until the yolk sets.
