Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Mămăligă cu brânză și smântână (Polenta with sour cream and cheese) (Romanian)


Back home, in the Romanian language, this is called "Mămăligă cu brânză şi smântână". This may not look like much to our Romanian friends, because the dish is such a staple in Romanian houses that it couldn't possibly surprise anyone back home. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean it's not craved for and sought after, the number of people still ordering it in restaurants (without being foreigners) speaking for itself. And why shouldn't they? Just because it's common doesn't mean it's any less delicious. With this in mind, we decided one evening to forget all the fancy-schmancy curries out there and just serve something more simple and more traditional, as we haven't done in a looong time. What, just because we're passionate about exotic stuff should make us forget our roots? Not a chance :). Enjoy.




Ingredients (serves 2):
  • 150 g corn maize (polenta flour)
  • 1 liter water
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 200 ml sour cream
  • 200 g salty white cheese (like feta)



Prepare a fast polenta from the water and maize, salting it to your liking. The more or less water you add, the more or less fluid the consistency of the polenta will be. With these quantities given here the polenta is just to our liking: not hard enough to cut it into slices that won't fall apart, but not gooey enough to slip from a fork either. Just boil the water with the salt and when it boils add the maize. Let it cook for 20 minutes, stirring once in a while, until it reaches your desired consistency.
Meanwhile, cut the cheese into little cubes:

When the polenta is done divide it between 2 serving plates:

Add 100 ml of sour cream on top of each and also half the cheese cubes. Sprinkle with pepper to taste. It's ready, dig in while it's hot! :)

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