A Dish That’s Perfect for Shavuot—or Breakfast Any Time
Move over, blintzes. A Romanian dish called malai, made from cornmeal and ricotta cheese, is a new holiday favorite.
May 24, 2017
Micah Siva
Micah Siva
A few 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.
Cato the Elder, the second-century author of De Agri Cultura (On Agriculture), had a similar recipe using flour rather than the New World cornmeal. When corn came to Europe from the New World, it was planted in northern Italy and the Danube Valley of Romania, quickly replacing barley for the daily gruel—thus, polenta. It soon became mamaliga, the national dish of Romania. My friend’s family came to Montreal from Romania when it was part of Ukraine, bringing this cornmeal-based recipe back to North America.
Malai, a Romanian pudding made form cornmeal and ricotta cheese (recipe here), is the perfect dish for Shavuot—when dairy foods are traditionally eaten—or for breakfast any time of the year.
Malai
Malai, Romanian Cornmeal Ricotta Breakfast Pudding
From King Solomon’s Table: a Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
3 large eggs, divided
2/3 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
Dash of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 lbs. whole milk ricotta or farmers cheese
Fresh berries or cherries, to serve
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8-inch round gratin bowl or similar baking pan with some of the butter.
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.
3. Mix together the ricotta or farmer cheese with the 2 remaining eggs and the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in another bowl.
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.
5. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until golden and set. Serve warm with fresh berries or cherries.
Yield: 6 servings
The Recipe
Joan Nathan is Tablet Magazine’s food columnist and the author of 10 cookbooks including King Solomon’s Table: a Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World.
