Mămăligă

Mămăligă(Romanian pronunciation:[məməˈliɡə];) is apolenta-like dish made out of yellowmaizeflour, traditional inRomania,Moldova, south-west regions ofUkraineand amongPoles in Ukraine,Hungary(puliszka), the Black Sea regions ofGeorgiaandTurkey, andThessalyandPhthiotis, as well as in Bulgaria (kačamak) and in Greece.It is also eaten inItaly,Switzerland,Southern France,Slovenia,Croatia,Brazil, often with the namepolenta.
Historically apeasant food, it was often used as a substitute for bread or even as astaple foodin the poor rural areas. However, in the last decades it has emerged as an upscale dish available in the finest restaurants.
Maize was consumed byRomanislaves in Wallachia andMoldavia, as well asMuslimslaves, who wereprisoners of war.
Historically,porridgeis the oldest form of consumption of grains in the whole of humanity, long before the appearance of bread. Originally, the seeds used to prepare slurries were very diverse asmilletoreinkorn.
Before the introduction of maize inEuropein the 16th centuryA.D., mămăligă had been made with millet flour, known to the Romans aspulmentum.
Maizewas introduced into Spain byHernán CortésfromMexicoin 1530 and spread in Europe in the 16th century. Maize (calledcornin the United States) requires a good amount of heat and humidity. TheDanubeValley is one of Europe's regions ideal for growing maize.
A Hungarian scholar documented the arrival of corn inTimișoara,Banatregion, 1692.InTransylvania, maize is also called 'cucuruz',which could imply a connection between Transylvanian and Serbian merchants, kukuruz being aSlavicword.Some assume it was eitherȘerban CantacuzinoorConstantin Mavrocordatwho introduced corn inWallachia,Maria Theresain TransylvaniaandConstantine DucasinMoldaviawhere it is called păpușoi.Mămăligă of millet would have been replaced gradually by mămăligă made of corn. Corn then became an important food, especially in the fight against famine, which prevailed in the 17th and 18th centuries.
HistorianNicolae Iorganoted that farmers of the Romanian Principalities had grown corn since the early-to-mid-17th century.
Etienne Ignace Raicevich, aRagusanconsul of Napoleonic France to Bucharest in the fourth quarter of the 18th century, wrote that corn was introduced onlyda poco tempo(recently).
Before the arrival ofmaizein Eastern Europe,mămăligăwas made ofmilletflour. Long lost, milletmămăligăis now again fashionable in western Europe.
Traditionally,mămăligăis cooked by boiling water, salt and cornmeal in a special-shapedcast ironpot calledceaunortuci. When cooked peasant-style and used as a bread substitute,mămăligăis supposed to be much thicker than the regular Italian polenta to the point that it can be cut in slices, like bread. When cooked for other purposes,mămăligăcan be much softer, sometimes almost to the consistency ofporridge. Becausemămăligăsticks to metal surfaces, a piece of sewing thread is used to cut it into slices instead of a knife; it can then be eaten by holding it with the hand, just like bread.
Mămăligăis a versatile food: various recipes ofmămăligă-based dishes may include milk,butter, various types of cheese, eggs, sausages (usually fried, grilled or oven-roasted), bacon, mushrooms, ham, fish etc.Mămăligăis a fat-free, cholesterol-free, high-fiber food. It can be used as a healthy alternative to more refined carbohydrates such as white bread, pasta, or hulled rice.
Mămăligăis often served with sour cream and cheese on the side (mămăligă cu brânză și smântână) or crushed in a bowl of hot milk (mămăligă cu lapte). Sometimes slices ofmămăligăare pan-fried in oil or in lard, the result being a sort ofcorn pone.
The traditional Moldavian meal is often served with meat, usually pork or fried fish, andmujdei, a garlic-and-oil sauce. Harder boiled mamaliga is traditionally cut with a string, so it wouldn't stick on a knife.
Sincemămăligăcan be used as an alternative for bread in manyRomanianandMoldovan dishes, there are quite a few which are either based onmămăligă, or include it as an ingredient or side dish. Arguably, the most popular of them issarmale(a type ofcabbage roll/grapevine roll) withmămăligă.
Another very popular Romanian dish based onmămăligăis calledbulz, and consists ofmămăligăwith cheese and butter and roasted in the oven.
Balmoș (sometimes spelled balmuș) is anothermămăligă-like traditional Romanian dish, but is more elaborate. Unlikemămăligă(where the cornmeal is boiled in water) when makingbalmoșthe cornmeal must be boiled insheepmilk. Other ingredients, such as butter, sour cream,telemea(a type offeta cheese),caș(a type of freshcurdledewe cheese withoutwhey, which is sometimes called "green cheese" in English),urdă(similar toricotta), etc., are added to the mixture at certain times during the cooking process. It is a specialty dish of old Romanian shepherds, and nowadays very few people still know how to make a properbalmoș.
In Chapter One ofDraculabyBram Stoker, the characterJonathan Harkerwrites, "I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour which they said was 'mamaliga', and egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a very excellent dish, which they call 'impletata'".
As a traditional Szekler food, it also appears in Hungarian folktales multiple times, for example inSzép Palkó.
Cornmeal mushis its analogue common in some regions of the United States andgritsin the southern regions.
Its analogue inSerbiaandBulgariais calledkačamak(Serbian:качамак/kačamak,Bulgarian:качамак) and is served mainly with whitebrine cheeseorpork rind(fried pieces of pork fat with parts of the skin).
InBosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia(alsopolentaorpalenta), Serbia (alsokačamak) and inMontenegro, the dish is mainly calledpura. InNorth Macedonia, it is calledbakrdan(Macedonian:бакрдан)  and inSlovenia,polenta.
Hungarianscall itpuliszka, and is traditionally eaten in both salty and sweet form. It is also called kukoricamálé, kukoricagánica or ganca.
TheTransylvanian Saxonscall it 'palukes' intheir traditional cuisine.
InTurkey, it is also called mamaliga, or kaçamak. Another similar dish, calledkuymakormuhlama, is among the typical dishes of theBlack Sea Region, although now popular in all the greater cities where there are many regional restaurants.
Broccoliga is a variant of Mămăligă featuring a broccoli-polenta mixture suffused with cheddar cheese and herbs.
Known by different names in local languages (Abkhaz:абысҭаabysta,Adyghe:мамрысmamrys,Georgian:ღომიghomi,Ingush:журан-хударzhuran-khudar,Chechen:ah'ar-hudar/zhuran-hudar,Nogai: мамырзаmamyrza,Ossetian:сир, сорсерæsir, sorsera), it is also widespread inCaucasian cuisines.
There is also a distinct similarity tocou-cou(as it is known in theBarbados), orfungi(as it is known inAntigua and Barbudaand otherLeeward Islandsin the Caribbean Sea).
This dish is eaten widely across Africa, often with white maize flour instead of yellow, where it has different local names: