Mamalyga is a tasty, satisfying and inexpensive dish that can often be seen on the table in Georgian, Ossetian, Adyghe and Abkhaz families. It is prepared easily, not a lot of ingredients are required.
In fact, the mamalyga recipe is a recipe for very thick porridge (it is often eaten instead of bread), which is cooked hard-boiled and then cut with a special wooden knife or canvas thread.
In Romanian and Moldavian cuisine, mamalygu is brewed with a very thick consistency. We can say that this is not even porridge, but steamed bread. The finished dish even in its shape resembles a loaf. Caucasians are preparing mamalyga closer to porridge. It is cooked from corn grits or flour. Another inalienable condition is that the mamalyga recipe in the Caucasus does not involve the addition of salt, sugar or spices; the porridge is completely fresh. A unique taste is given to it by additional ingredients: salty suluguni cheese, cherry plum sauce and other piquant gravy.
Mamalyga in Abkhazian: a recipe for cooking
There is nothing complicated in cooking mamalyga. Perhaps the most important thing is to guess the ratio of water to
cornmeal. Many use a 1: 3 ratio, but in our recipe from Abkhazian housewives it is 1: 2.5. So, for one full glass of small corn grits or flour, we need two and a half glasses of water. You will also need brine
cheese Suluguni, about 150 grams, and a tablespoon of butter, for tenderness.
The traditional recipe for mamalyga, as we have already mentioned, does not involve the addition of salt. However, at first porridge may seem too fresh to you, and the taste preferences of our compatriots are somewhat different from the traditions adopted in the Caucasus. Therefore, once you can add some salt and salt, but just a little - then you will understand for yourself whether you need salt in this recipe and how much.
For a delicious hominy you need the right pan, and it is better if it has thick walls. A cast iron is an ideal cooking utensil, but at the worst, a regular enameled saucepan is also suitable. Pour the required amount of water into it, add some salt and wait until the water boils.
Pouring cereals into boiling water is an important and responsible process. This should be done carefully, in a thin stream, while constantly stirring the contents of the pan. Then the finished porridge will turn out homogeneous and without nasty lumps.
The corn grits recipe involves 20-30 minutes to cook. If porridge is made from flour, half of this time is enough. True, it will not be possible to move away from the stove for a long time - after all, the mamalyga needs to be often stirred. The dish is being cooked over the smallest fire. Readiness is checked very easily: we stick a wooden rolling pin into the porridge and crank it. If the porridge does not stick, then it is ready!
But do not rush to lay mamalyga on plates. First, using a wooden spatula moistened with water, slightly separate the contents of the pot from its walls and leave it on the stove for a couple of minutes. Then it remains only to turn the dishes over and dump the finished "loaf" on a beautiful dish. By the way, by the integrity and shape of the mamalyga, by the fact, it falls apart, or all the grains make up a single monolith, and they judge the quality of the finished porridge.
Serve mamalyga with many different products. This suluguni, and feta cheese, and kvass, and garlic, and Georgian adjika, and fried onions, and bacon with bacon ... In general, choose what you like and enjoy this hearty and healthy dish!