Mămăligă is a cornmeal porridge eaten in Romania and Moldova, as well as parts of other countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, and Albania. After its introduction from America to Europe in the 1500s, corn began to replace other grains in porridge, particularly in regions near the Danube River where corn cultivation flourished. For centuries mămăligă was considered a humble comfort food, but its gourmet status has grown in recent decades.
In Romania, where mămăligă is considered the national dish, it is traditionally made in a cast iron pot (ceaun or cauldron), flipped out directly onto a wood table, and sliced with string or thread. It is often served with a pat of butter, sour cream, or cheeses such as telemea (similar to feta) or cascaval (similar to pecorino). Mămăligă is also a great accompaniment to a meat or vegetable dish. For example, here is a recipe for Moldovan guvech, which is like ratatouille, served over mămăligă. Truly this porridge is so delicious and versatile that it may become a favorite in your meal planning.
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The cook time for mămăligă varies depending on how much you’re making and your pan size, but 15-20 minutes works well for getting a nice texture with 1-2 cups corn flour in a two-to-three quart pan. The video below shows the porridge consistency after about 5 minutes and when it is finished cooking.
You can make mămăligă with any variety of corn, though yellow is the traditional color. The unique and pretty porridge in the photo below was made with bloody butcher red corn.
A coarse cornmeal will take longer to soften as it cooks, and a very fine corn flour will be silkier and cook faster. If you’re home-milling corn for this recipe, give it one pass through the mill at a coarse setting and a second pass at fine setting, a half-tick back from stones knocking. See the Photo Gallery after the recipe for pics of these milling steps. You can also make mămăligăwith nixtamalized corn flour, also known as masa harina, but it will need more water.
Mămăligăis a simple and delicious corn porridge that can be made to slice into cubes and is cooked on the stove. It's the national dish of Romania and also enjoyed in Moldova and many other countries in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Similar to polenta,mămăligăshowcases the flavor of the corn, and it can be a side dish or the main attraction.
Servings
4-6 servings
Prep Time
5 minutes
Baking Time
16 minutes
Total Time
21 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 cup cornmeal or 140 grams home-milled bloody butcher corn or yellow dent corn
- 2-3 cups water (480-720 grams)
- 1/2 tsp salt (3 grams)
- 1-2 Tbsp oil or butter (14-28 grams)
Instructions
- In a pan on the stove, bring the water and salt to a boil. A taller saute pan or wider sauce pan will both work well.
- Slowly whisk the cornmeal into the boiling water and continue whisking until there are almost no lumps.
- Reduce the heat to a simmer. The porridge will continue to give off steam and slowly heave but doesn't vigorously bubble.
- Using a heat-resistant silicone spatula or a wooden spoon, stir frequently while the porridge cooks for about 15 minutes or until the porridge is thicker as per the video above. Also you can tell the porridge is done when it peels off the spatula as you turn it. You may need to increase the cook time by 5 minutes if you double the recipe.
- Add the butter or oil to the perimeter of the pan and work it under and around the porridge discus. Turn up the heat and cook for 1 minute more without stirring.
- Flip the mămăligă out of the pan onto a wood cutting board or plate of your choice.
- Let it cool for a few minutes. Slice with string and serve.
- Store any extra mămăligă in a closed container in the refrigerator. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove.
Notes
I used a stainless steel saute pan and found relatively littlemămăligăremained in the pan after flipping it out. If you do have some porridge stuck in the pan, you can "deglaze" it with some milk, making an extra porridge snack.
