Afew years ago, while researching my latest book, King Solomon’s Table: a Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World, my husband, Allan, and I were visiting friends in their home on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. On Sunday morning, the hostess told me that she wanted to cook a ricotta-cheese cornmeal dish for brunch. Taking out a tattered recipe from her mother, the late Millie Schwartz Lutter, she proceeded to make it for us: malai, meaning cornmeal in Romanian.
Malai, Romanian Cornmeal Ricotta Breakfast Pudding
April 07, 2021
From King Solomon’s Table: a Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World
Ingredients
- 8tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
- 3large eggs, divided
- ⅔cup sugar, divided
- ½cup milk
- ½cup cornmeal
- ½cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- Dash salt
- 2teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½lbs whole milk ricotta or farmers cheese
- Fresh berries or cherries, to serve
Yield: 6 servings
Preparation
- Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8-inch round gratin bowl or similar baking pan with some of the butter.
- Step 2
Melt the remaining butter and cool slightly. Put the butter, 1 of the eggs, 1/3 cup of the sugar, and the milk into a medium bowl and mix well. Gradually fold in the cornmeal, flour, salt, and baking powder and mix well.
- Step 3
Mix together the ricotta or farmer cheese with the 2 remaining eggs and the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in another bowl.
- Step 4
Spoon half the cornmeal mixture on the bottom of the pan, then pour on all the cheese mixture and finish by spooning and spreading the remaining cornmeal mixture on top.
- Step 5
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until golden and set. Serve warm with fresh berries or cherries.