Mămăligă is the cornmeal dish Romania grew up on. Long before maize crossed the Atlantic it was made from millet, and once corn reached the region it became the food that carried country families through hard years, standing in for bread on tables where wheat was scarce or taxed. It is cooked thicker than most Italian polenta, so firm that it is traditionally turned out onto a wooden board and cut with a length of thread, because it clings to a knife with real determination.

The affectionate diminutive, mămăliguță, is reserved for the version people dream about: hot mămăligă with crumbled salty cheese and a cold spoonful of smântână, the thick Romanian sour cream, often with a fried egg on top. It is peasant food that has graduated to restaurant menus without changing its clothes, and it costs almost nothing to make. The cheese melts at the edges, the sour cream cools each mouthful, and the yolk turns the whole bowl into something richer than the sum of four humble ingredients.

It is also an ideal first Romanian dish to explore at home: one pot, one spoon and half an hour, finished well before the formation lap.

The mămăligă

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups (1.1 liters) water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
• 2 tablespoons (30 g) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups (250 g) yellow cornmeal

Method

1. Pour the water into the heavy pot, add the salt and 1 tablespoon of the butter, and bring it to a full boil over high heat.
2. Take a small handful of the cornmeal, about 2 tablespoons, and let it fall slowly through your fingers into the boiling water while you whisk. This thin first addition keeps the rest from clumping. Let it come back to the boil.
3. Turn the heat down to medium. Pour in the remaining cornmeal in a slow, steady stream with one hand while you whisk constantly with the other. Keep whisking for 2 minutes after the last of it goes in, chasing out any lumps against the side of the pot.
4. Switch to the wooden spoon and turn the heat to low. Cover the pot, leaving the lid slightly open, and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring firmly every 3 or 4 minutes and scraping the bottom and corners. If it becomes too stiff to stir before the time is up, add hot water from the kettle 2 tablespoons at a time.
5. Taste a little from the spoon, letting it cool first. It is cooked when it tastes smooth and sweet rather than gritty. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter.

The fried eggs

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon (15 g) butter or sunflower oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. While the mămăligă has its last 5 minutes, melt the butter in the frying pan over medium heat.
2. Crack the eggs into the pan, spacing them apart. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes, then cover with the lid for 1 minute more so the tops set while the yolks stay soft.

To assemble

Ingredients

• 7 oz (200 g) telemea or brânză de burduf
• 1 cup (240 g) smântână
• 1 tablespoon chopped dill or chives

Method

1. Spoon a generous layer of hot mămăligă into each warm bowl. Scatter over half the crumbled cheese, then add a second spoonful of mămăligă and the rest of the cheese, so the cheese softens between the layers.
2. Top each bowl with a big spoonful of cold sour cream and slide a fried egg on top. Add a grind of pepper and a little dill if you like, and serve at once.
3. To serve it the old way, cook the mămăligă 5 minutes longer so it is very firm, then turn the pot upside down onto the wooden board in one confident movement. Let it settle for 2 minutes. Slip the thread under the round, cross the ends over the top and pull them apart to cut clean slices. Serve the slices with the cheese, sour cream and eggs alongside.

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