Unlike any other porridge in consistency, taste, or even appearance, mamalyga occupies a special place among these dishes. After all, to divide it into portions, they use a special waxed thread or a special wooden knife - this is how real porridge from corn flour is thickly brewed. It looks more like steamed bread.

Interestingly, hominy was originally prepared from millet, but the latter option is much tastier and higher in calories.

Who invented hominy?

There is no clear answer. It is only obvious that this cheap dish was used in their diet by ordinary people who were not accustomed to luxury and delicacies in food. Surprisingly, people will tell you how to cook mamalyga in a variety of regions and countries. This miracle porridge is equally loved by:

• in Romania;
• in Moldavia;
• in Ukraine;
• in the Caucasus.

Mamalyga is called very differently in different regions of the Caucasus:

• among Georgians it is gomi;
• among the Abkhazians - abysta;
• among the Ingush - zhuran-khudar;
• among the Adygeis - mamrys;
• Ossetians have mamalay keber.

It is difficult to say where exactly the first pot of this unique dish was prepared, but the Romanian origin of the name suggests that mamaliga was “born” among this people.

How to prepare porridge

The recipe for the famous porridge is surprisingly simple. Romanians claim that the following products are needed to prepare mamaliga:

1. Corn flour - 0.5 kg.
2. Salt – 1 teaspoon.
3. Water – 1.5 l.

This is where the list ends. As for the dishes, you will need:

1. Cast iron.
2. Wooden stick stirrer.

So, water is poured into the cast iron, salted and brought to a boil. Then add a handful of flour to the container without stirring and wait for a second boil.

Then pour the remaining flour into the pan in small heaps. And, again, without stirring, they begin to cook. In this case, it is advisable to use a stirrer to divide the resulting shape in half.

You need to cook the porridge over low heat so that it does not boil, does not bubble, but “simmers” on the fire for 25-30 minutes.

And then quickly and thoroughly stir the resulting mass with a wooden stick so that not a single lump remains.

And that’s it – the mamalyga made from corn grits is ready. To make sure that the dish has the “correct” thickness, take the stirring stick in both hands and, having lowered it into the cast iron, quickly twist it in your palms. Good porridge does not stick to the stick. If it is a little liquid, it is enough to keep the pot on the fire for some more time.

Types and use of hominy

Since corn porridge is a simple and cheap dish, it is prepared in almost every family in the North Caucasus. But they are used very differently:

• as an independent dish;
• instead of bread;
• as a side dish.

Mamalyga is very tasty with sour cream and feta cheese, with bacon and eggs, with cracklings and mushrooms, as well as with fish.

Moldavian corn porridge, unlike Romanian, is prepared with the addition of oil. By the way, the Moldovans dispute the palm, claiming that they are the authors of hominy, because their state was formed two centuries earlier, and people have always wanted to eat cheap and tasty. And all the other peoples learned from them how to cook hominy.

Mamalyga in Caucasian style

Although Romanians and Moldovans consider corn porridge their national dish, the most delicious and tender mamalyga is prepared in the North Caucasus. Don't believe me? Come and try it. Mountain women are happy to share the recipe, but know that porridge will never taste like this in your city apartment.

So, mamalyga is a recipe for cooking in Abkhazian style. Unlike those described above, this hominy is prepared without salt at all. But the best cheese of all times is added to it - sulguni, thanks to which the dish acquires a unique taste and consistency.

Every housewife in a mountain village knows that it is enough to take:

• a full glass of corn flour or even fine grits;
• 2.5 glasses of water;
• 150 g sulguni cheese;
• 1 tbsp. a spoonful of butter.

And after just 30 minutes, your favorite, and most importantly, hearty dish will delight your household.

True, the housewife herself must spend this half hour at the stove, since the porridge is cooked over the lowest heat, but needs continuous stirring. Otherwise, how can you cook hominy from corn grits without a single lump?

Flour, as in previous recipes, is poured into boiling water in a thin stream. And readiness is determined in the same way.

By the way, properly prepared porridge is easily taken out of the cast iron in one solid piece. To do this, you just need to lightly pry it with a wooden stirrer, then shake the pan several times and, turning it over, put the hominy on a beautiful plate prepared in advance.

Are leftovers sweet?

If you happen to have some pieces of mamalyga left after the feast, and this can only happen if not all of the invited guests arrived, and there really was a lot of porridge, then don’t be upset. Of course, it’s bad that someone couldn’t please you with their presence and sit at the same table with you.

But we won’t let the hominy go to waste. You can prepare a lot of new, no less tasty dishes from it.

For example, corn porridge cakes are extremely tasty. The chopped pieces are simply fried in oil, and the result is an appetizing and high-calorie dish, which both adults and children “gobble up on both cheeks.”

Mamalyga is no less tasty if you crumble it into a plate and pour hot milk over it. You won't be able to get away from this soup by the ears.

You can also make it from corn porridge:

• dumplings;
• bulls;
• papar.

The last two dishes are very similar, but some nuances in the shaping and baking process ultimately result in a different set of flavors.

Well, if you prepare sauces specially designed for this dish with corn porridge, then it can be safely served in elite restaurants. Which, by the way, is done successfully in some reputable establishments.

We will tell you separately what these special sauces are.

About sauces

Most often, Abkhazian mamalyga is served with vegetable, cheese sauce or tkemali, although each housewife has her own subtleties and secrets. Let's look at three classic options.

Tkemali. Since tkemali is a type of plum, it is clear that it will be the main component of the sauce. And you can add “anything” to them. Let's take an example of a spicy sauce. To 1 kg of plums add a head of garlic, coriander, mint, red hot pepper, and dill. Initially, the plums need to be boiled so that the peel and seeds can be easily separated. The juice is drained at the end of cooking; it will be useful later. The remaining pulp is ground and stewed, adding a little water. When the mixture begins to resemble sour cream in thickness, the same juice is gradually added to it. Then add the spices ground into powder, keep the pan on low heat for another 3-5 minutes and cool. Tkemali is ready.

Vegetable. It consists of large cubes of tomatoes, peeled and chopped onion into small cubes, finely grated carrots, finely chopped cilantro and garlic. First, the onions are fried in butter; if you have olive oil, you can add that too. Then carrots are added to the onions and sautéed for a few more minutes, then tomatoes, a tablespoon of tomato paste, and a little water are added to the frying pan, and the stewing process begins, at the end of which pepper, salt, garlic and cilantro are added. The amazing tasting and healthy sauce is ready.

Cheesy. It is prepared in butter, which is previously melted in a frying pan, then flour is added, mixed thoroughly and the milk begins to be carefully poured in so that the mass remains homogeneous, for this the mixture must be stirred continuously. Next, melted cheese is added, followed by grated hard cheese. All this should come to a boil. At the end, with a slight wave of the hand, the sauce is flavored with paprika and salt.

In every home, Caucasians have their own preferences, their own tastes, but there is no doubt that mamalyga appears on the tables of hospitable people regularly. A nourishing and quick-to-prepare dish is easy to make tasty and appetizing, but what else do true gourmets, of which the mountaineers undoubtedly belong, need? Well, maybe a glass of good wine...

Mamalyga is a porridge made from corn flour, a Moldavian, Romanian, Western Ukrainian and Cossack national dish. The Italians have polenta, the Mexicans have tomalito. It differs from all other porridges in taste, consistency and appearance.
Mamalyga is served with sour cream and feta cheese. Sometimes mamalyga is served with hot milk. Hominy is also used to make corn cakes by cutting and frying it in oil or fat.
Another hominy dish consists of baked hominy balls with cheese and butter inside.
Mamalyga can be served with cracklings, cottage cheese and cheeses, bacon, eggs, mushrooms, fried fish, etc.

Mamaliga recipe ingredients

• Corn flour - 1 cup
• milk 1.5 tbsp
• water - 2 tbsp
• salt - 0.5 tsp
• vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l

How to cook mamalyga, step-by-step recipe with photos

Mamalyga is cooked in a cast iron pot or pan with a thick multi-layer bottom.

Pour vegetable oil into a suitable bowl, add corn flour and fry over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. The corn grits will become brighter yellow and crumbly, and you will feel a pleasant, nutty smell.

Pour cold milk over cornmeal and mix thoroughly. Meanwhile, boil water separately.

Cornmeal instantly absorbs liquid, so it must be stirred constantly when adding liquid.

Pour hot water, stir, add salt and immediately reduce heat to low.
Since corn flour absorbs liquid very quickly, it tends to form lumps, so it is more convenient to mix the hominy with a whisk.

You only need to stir the hominy at the stage of adding and absorbing liquid. Then remove the whisk or spoon and leave the hominy to cook over low heat for 20 minutes. Do not cover with a lid.
After 20-25 minutes, the hominy will begin to lag behind the walls, this indicates its readiness.

There are many options for serving hominy. You can bake mamaliga with feta cheese or soft cheese. To do this, divide the mamalyga, put one part into a mold, grate feta cheese or cheese on top, cover with the other part of the mamalyga, brush sour cream on top and bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes so that the feta cheese melts.

Mamalyga can be served with stewed meat, fried mushrooms and vegetables.

You can serve hominy as a side dish for fish.
P.S. Sometimes I prepare mamalyga as follows: after pouring in all the liquid, I add about 150 grams of grated feta cheese or cream cheese (I take only the middle of the cheese without spices) and then the mamalyga acquires a delicate creamy taste.

Mamalyga is a traditional Moldavian national dish. It came into use at the end of the 17th century in connection with the spread of corn crops in Moldova. There is a widespread belief that mamalyga supposedly replaces bread in Moldova. This is not true.… … Great Encyclopedia of Culinary Arts

The national Moldavian dish is porridge made from corn flour. It is prepared in a special way in a cast iron pot using a special stirring stick. It differs from all other porridges in taste, consistency and appearance. Cut with waxed thread or... Culinary dictionary

- (Mold.). Steeply brewed porridge (zatirukha) made from corn flour. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. MAMALIGA [rum. mamaliga] a dish popular in the countries of South-Eastern Europe, a thick mass (porridge) made from... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

MAMALIGA, mamalygi, many. no, female (Romanian: mamaliga) (region). Corn porridge. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

MAMALIGA, and, female. Thick porridge made from corn flour or grits. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Female, Novorosssk steeply brewed porridge or mash made from corn flour; Italian polenta. Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary. IN AND. Dahl. 1863 1866 … Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

Noun, number of synonyms: 1 porridge (53) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

HOMINY- a cool corn porridge that replaces bread among the peoples of South-Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Synonym for GOMI, POLENTA... Ethnographic Dictionary

hominy- mamalyga, a steep corn porridge that replaces bread among the peoples of South-Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Wed. Gomi, Polenta... Encyclopedia "Peoples and Religions of the World"

Cool corn porridge, replacing bread, among the peoples of South-Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Wed. GOMI, POLENTA... Ethnographic Dictionary

Books

• Cardiocerebral disorders and intracellular changes in the central nervous system during convulsive activity and its treatment Monograph, Mamalyga M.. The monograph is devoted to the analysis of modern ideas about the functional interdependence of cerebral and cardiovascular disorders in comorbid cardiocerebral dysfunctions,…
• Diabetes mellitus and its role in the formation of cardiovascular disorders, Mamalyga M.. The monograph contains an analysis of modern fundamental and clinical research that forms new conceptual ideas about the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus, its connection with the formation...

Corn porridge recipes

Moldavian mamaliga recipe with photo

40 minutes

300 kcal

5 /5 (5 )

Moldavian mamaliga is a thick corn porridge formed into a round loaf. This is both an independent dish and an excellent side dish for fish, meat, and vegetables. Just as a retinue makes a king, so Moldavian mamalyga fully reveals its taste only in the circle of familiar accompanying dishes - “Muzhdey” sauce, scrob and cracklings. All this is prepared quickly and simply. Let's get started.

Step-by-step classic recipe for making mamaliga in Moldavian style with photos

Kitchenware: cauldron with thick walls and bottom, cast iron or aluminum,wooden spatula or rolling pin,wooden cutting board or cloth napkin,cotton thread.

Ingredients for 4 servings

The classic recipe uses finely ground cornmeal. However, if you can’t find it in your nearest store, don’t despair, because you can make mamaliga from fine corn grits, the recipe doesn’t change.

Important! In order for the hominy to turn out “A+”, the flour must be dried. To do this, you need to scatter it on a baking sheet in a thin layer and place it in an oven preheated to 150 degrees for 3-4 minutes. This will make the flour more crumbly and rid the finished dish of small uncooked lumps.

Step-by-step preparation

1. Pour water into a cauldron, put it on fire, add salt.
   
   
2. When the water is slightly warmed up, add half a glass of flour and mix thoroughly.
   
   
3. When the contents of the cauldron boil, reduce the heat and begin adding the remaining flour in small portions.
   
   

   It is very important to mix the porridge thoroughly, breaking up any lumps that form.

4. For 20-25 minutes, periodically stir the porridge, running a wooden spatula along the walls and bottom of the cauldron. When it starts to thicken, add oil.
   
   
5. When the porridge thickens (it should resemble a thick viscous dough), separate it from the walls of the cauldron with a wooden spatula, reduce the heat to low and cook for another 5 minutes.
   
   

   After this, we check the readiness - insert a toothpick into it and turn it slightly. If the porridge does not stick to the toothpick, it means it is ready.

6. Place a board on the table or spread a cloth napkin. We take the cauldron with both hands, shake it lightly a couple of times and turn it over onto the prepared surface. If the operation was not entirely successful, we trim the shape of the hominy with a knife or spoon, forming a rounded loaf.
   
   
7. The finished hominy cannot be cut with a knife; it sticks to it. For this stage we have prepared a thread. We take it by the ends, cut into portions and serve.
   
   

What is mamalyga served with?

Mamalyga is a universal side dish. It goes perfectly with stewed vegetables and mushrooms, meat and fish in any form - boiled, fried, stewed, smoked, and so on. It is served with pickles, sour cream, fresh vegetables and herbs.

In Moldova, mamaliga is traditionally served with grated sheep cheese, “Muzhdei” sauce, scrob and cracklings. All these dishes can be prepared at the same time as mamaliga.

Grated cheese

Sheep cheese can replace simple cow cheese, feta cheese, feta, mozzarella or suluguni (if you have suluguni cheese, you can prepare it). We grate it on a coarse grater and put it in a separate outlet. The dish is ready.

“Muzhdey” sauce

Ingredients

Pour into the sauce boat and move on to the next dish.

Scrub (4 servings)

Ingredients

Cracklings

Ingredients

When serving, sprinkle the mamalyga with cracklings and onions, pour over the rendered fat.

Video recipe for mamaliga in Moldavian style

You can see the process of preparing mamaliga in Moldavian style in this video. And even if you have never had to prepare such a dish before, the video will be a good helper in this process.

As you can see, the cooking process is simple. Moldavian peasants knew a lot about food; it is not for nothing that this dish is now included in the menu of expensive restaurants. However, you don't need to be a chef to cook it.

• If four servings are not enough for you, increase the amount of food, strictly observing the ratio of corn flour to water - 1:3.
• If at the end of cooking the mamalyga is not thick enough, increase the cooking time - the water will evaporate and the porridge will thicken.
• You can only turn the finished hominy over onto a wooden board or cloth napkin; on a regular plate it will become damp and tasteless.
• Mamaliga is cooked only over low heat.

If you weren’t able to eat all the cooked hominy in one sitting, while it’s warm and aromatic, it’s not a problem. The next day, you can fry it in butter until golden brown and serve it as a side dish or dessert with jam, honey, and sour cream.

Corn cannot be called a low-calorie product, but it removes excess fats and waste from the body, so we can safely recommend this dish to those who are watching their figure. A large list of vitamins, beneficial microelements, and vegetable proteins allows corn porridge to rightfully be called the “queen of the table.” If you liked the sunny taste of hominy, try an alternative recipe. The recipe for corn porridge in a slow cooker is suitable for those who own such kitchen appliances. Fans of dairy dishes will love this recipe for corn porridge with milk.

Mamalyga is prepared in Abkhazia, Adygea, Romania, Moldova. In Italy it is called polenta, in Georgia - gomi, in Africa - ugali. With such a vast geography and centuries-old history, there are probably a lot of secrets and unique family recipes. Share your experience or your own recipe, and also tell us what you like to eat hominy with.

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 simply gnaw on boiled cobs 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 sweet corn, you can only wonder why people are still looking for means to lose weight and cleanse the body of waste and toxins, free radionuclides. Why not include it in the regular diet of people suffering from diabetes, allergies of various origins, diseases of blood vessels, heart and digestive organs? Why take dubious means to build muscle mass when within geographic and economic accessibility there is maize (corn), one of the first grains that provided bread for humanity?

Note that corn contains up to 80% unsaturated fatty acids, which is very rare for many products. Medical luminaries and local doctors constantly talk about the invaluable role of these compounds; websites are full of advertisements for dietary supplements, in which network marketing intrusively offers to buy a magical remedy for health and longevity at unimaginable prices, while bags of corn flour are “boring” on the shelves of grocery stores. , which costs a penny. Corn grits and flour do not contain gluten, and this fact is of interest to fans of a gluten-free diet, but do not confuse corn flour with starch, one of the derivatives of the same grain.

So, it’s time to popularize dishes made from corn grits or flour, and fortunately, good recipes have been preserved in the cuisines of Latin America and the Balkan Peninsula. Dishes made from corn grits have taken root well in Caucasian cuisine and in some cuisines of the Asian continent. This will help you find good cooking ideas for your own recipes.

Corn grits hominy - basic technological principles

Many people have heard that mamalyga, a thick corn porridge, is a traditional and favorite dish of Moldovan cuisine. There is a false belief that mamaliga is a type of Moldovan bread. This is not entirely true, although recipes for bread made from corn flour also exist, but it is added to the bread dough in an amount of no more than 30%.

From corn grits, like any other, you can prepare many dishes, but since we are talking about hominy, we will focus on the technology for preparing this dish, as the basis for other delicious recipes. In Moldova, mamalyga is always served accompanied by sauces and appetizers and is not an independent dish.

The main reason for indifference to the dish lies in the difficulty of preparing corn porridge. This technology, most likely, has not been fully mastered by housewives in the Eastern European part of the CIS countries. Cooking corn porridge is really different from cooking dishes from buckwheat, oatmeal, rice and other cereals traditional for our East Slavic cuisine. But, as they say, it is not the gods who burn the pots, and everything happens for the first time.

First, we note that cornmeal has different degrees of grinding, like wheat, rye, barley and all other grains. For hominy, you need to use the finest grains. In other words, this is no longer 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. To prepare hominy or polenta, popular in Italian cuisine, as well as varieties of corn porridge in European countries, corn flour from yellow varieties is mainly used. Georgian, Azerbaijani and other cuisines of the peoples of the Caucasus are rich in dishes made from white corn flour. 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 from other national cuisines made from corn grits, then pay attention to this feature, because otherwise you will not be able to achieve the desired result: the taste of yellow corn porridge is pronounced, unlike porridge made from white grits.

Now let's move on to a detailed description of the technology for cooking hominy or polenta - choose the name you like, but the basic principle is the same.

Basic recipe for mamalyga made from corn grits

The consistency of the porridge is viscous. The ratio of water and corn flour is 1:3; 500 g of flour requires 1.5 liters of water. If porridge is cooked with milk, then the milk is combined with water in a ratio of 1:4. Cooking time is at least 40 minutes. For the first 15 minutes, the porridge is cooked under intense heating, and after that the heating temperature is reduced to minimum values, and further cooking occurs in the simmering mode. Add salt and a third of sifted and dried corn flour to boiling water. The porridge is cooked with constant stirring until it thickens. Then you need to place a wooden rolling pin in the center of the pan, and use a wooden spatula to constantly move the porridge away from the edge of the dish so that the porridge does not burn and the water evaporates evenly. For a more delicate taste, butter or other fats are added at the beginning of cooking, depending on the side dish that is necessarily served with mamalyga.

The question arises: what to do with the grain remaining after sifting? A good cook uses all products to the maximum, and there should not be large waste. Soak the cereal in milk or water, add vegetables, fruits, cream cheese or cottage cheese, minced meat, spices, and prepare cutlets, meatballs, meatballs, muffins - your culinary imagination will help you choose the right recipe. But cook hominy only from flour, because it is the basis of the dish.

The finished and cooled porridge is transferred to a dish, turning the pan over. It looks like a cake, dense and not crumbly. In fact, corn porridge in this form is a semi-finished product from which you can prepare a lot of interesting dishes: appetizers, casseroles, rolls and even desserts, if you don’t forget to add sugar to the water during the cooking process. The cooled layer is cut not with a knife, but with a harsh thread, into pieces of the desired size and shape.

1. Corn grits hominy and omelet with ham, cheese and vegetables

A quick and satisfying breakfast for the whole family is every woman’s dream. If breakfast, moreover, looks original so that the family does not get capricious 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 basic recipe)

Eggs, dietary 6 pcs.

Milk 200 ml

Ham 400 g

Ghee 100 g

Green onions 300 g

Tomatoes 250 g

Preparation procedure:

Prepare mamalyga with milk in the evening, as described in the main recipe. Transfer to a cloth, onto a plate and leave until morning. In the morning, cut into cubes using a thread, or, if the diameter of the frying pan and the pan in which the porridge was cooked are the same, divide the porridge across the circle, into layers 1.5 cm thick.

Grease a deep frying pan with a removable handle with oil and place a layer of hominy in it. Place the tomatoes cut into slices on top, place the ham on the tomatoes, cut into cubes. Pour lightly melted butter, place in a preheated oven and bake until golden brown. If desired, you can sprinkle the ham with ground black pepper and replace it with other meat, lard or sausages.

Beat the eggs until the volume increases 2-3 times, add salt and pour in cold milk. Pour the mixture on top. Bake until done, reducing the oven temperature to 90 - 100°C. Once the omelette is ready, pour the remaining melted butter over the dish and sprinkle with chopped green onions. These are the pies you can make for breakfast!

2. Corn grits hominy: a gourmet snack with cheese

Is there any hominy left after breakfast? Moldavian porridge can even be made into an element of a romantic dinner by adding very few ingredients and 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

Butter

White pepper, ground

Preparation:

Start by selecting suitable dishes: the 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 hominy into small cubes, circles (using a notch) or other shapes. Rub the baking dish well with oil mixed with chopped garlic. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Pour heated wine mixed with spices into the mold, place pieces of hominy covered with thin slices of cheese, which should be slightly larger in diameter than the hominy mugs. Sprinkle the cheese with caraway seeds: it will decorate the dish and improve digestion. Place the dish in the oven, wait until the wine has evaporated, the cheese has melted and is covered with a slightly golden brown crust. Immediately place the dish on a stand and pour over a cocktail of cognac and cherry liqueur. Turn off the lights and light the snack. When the alcohol burns out, you can try. Don't forget to serve red wine with the dish.

3. Corn grits mamalyga: “koloboks” with cheese and cilantro

Try one of our delicious breakfast options.

Pickled cheese 400 g

Mamalyga (ready-made porridge with milk) 1 kg

Paprika, dried 50 g

Corn grits for breading

Butter 260 g

Matsoni 800 ml

Spicy tomato sauce

Yield: 4 servings

Preparation:

Mash the porridge with a fork, adding 100 g of butter. Rub well with your hands until smooth. Divide into pieces of 100 or 150 g. Pour corn grits onto a work surface and form into round cakes.

Also mash the cheese with a fork with the remaining butter, adding spices, garlic and finely chopped cilantro. Place 1.5 - 2 tablespoons of filling on corn tortillas, roll into balls and roll them in corn breading. Deep fry and serve with olives, matsoni and tomato sauce.

4. Corn grits hominy: grilled liver sausages

Ingredients:

Chicken liver, poached 800 g

Onion, sautéed 250 g

Mamalyga 500 g

Eggs 2 pcs.

Preparation:

Mix the prepared liver, onion, garlic, spices and porridge thoroughly with a blender until smooth. Add the eggs and form semi-finished products into a cylindrical shape, no more than two centimeters in diameter.

Fry on the grill. Serve baked eggplants, tomatoes, and garlic sauce as a side dish.

5. Corn grits mamalyga: muffins with dried fruits and cream

If you want gluten-free sweet baked goods without the typical cornmeal flavor, order white cornmeal online (from the white variety). You can try to veil the taste with aromatic confectionery additives: cocoa, fruit essences, cognac or rum.

Preparation:

Mamalyga with milk (see 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 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

Preparation procedure:

Remove the zest from the oranges and set aside for making the dough. Combine the juice with sugar (200 g), bring to a boil and add soaked agar. Boil the syrup for approximately five minutes. Pour into a flat dish with a low side, lined with foil. When it hardens, cut the jelly into cubes.

Place the eggs in a food processor bowl and beat with sugar. Add soft butter, vanilla, liqueur. Mash corn porridge cooked in milk with a fork, combining with flour and dried fruits. Combine both masses. Stir until plastic.

Fill out the cupcake liners at? parts of the volume, leave them for 15-20 minutes, letting them rise. Bake at 180°C.

After checking the readiness of the cupcakes with a wooden skewer, transfer the finished products to a linen napkin and cool.

Whip the chilled pastry cream. Cover the surface of the cupcakes with buttercream using a pipetting bag and sprinkle with orange jelly pieces.

6. Cornmeal hominy with pumpkin and cheese

Ingredients:

Cheese cheese (or cottage cheese) 300 g

Mamalyga 600 g

Pumpkin baked with sugar 200 g

Nuts (any) 50 g

Butter 90 g

Sour cream - for serving

Preparation:

Place the warm hominy boiled in water on a rectangular linen napkin or gauze. Cover with a second napkin. Using a rolling pin, roll out an even rectangular layer of porridge (1 cm). Cover it with a layer of cheese filling, seasoned with garlic, chopped mint and small cubes of baked pumpkin. Form into a roll. Place it on the prepared baking sheet. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with nut crumbs. Brown in the oven and serve with sour cream, cut into portions.

Please note that corn grits can be stored well, but not more than six months, in tightly closed jars. When buying cereal, check the date of manufacture on the packaging.

Corn flour will help in the treatment of hypertension. Pour boiled water over a tablespoon of flour overnight and stir. In the morning, drain the water, leaving the sediment in the glass, and drink on an empty stomach.