Tuesday 25 November 2008

Mais Polenta

Polenta is made from cornmeal and cornmeal is coarsely grinded corn/ground corn. This evening I prepared an experimental dish, coincidentally an Italian dish too! I was grocery-shopping the other day and thought about an alternate side dish. I mean it has always been rice, bread, potatoes so I just wanted to have something different.

I bought a packet of cornmeal (kukuruznaya khrupa) from the supermarket. I made the Basic Polenta, boiled with only water and salt. I read that the ways of making Polenta is innumerable. This is one dish which you can add or substitute any ingredient, and it'll still taste good!

Polenta (for 2-3 persons)

3 cups of water
1 cup of cornmeal
1 teaspoon of salt

*optional: herbs/spices /milk /butter/ cheese/ cooked vegetables/ ham/ fried onions or garlic/ chicken stock/ Maggi cubes/ anything that strikes your fancy.. go wild!

Italians are brilliant when it comes to gastronomy! Polenta is really easy to make and it can be served soft, hard, grilled or boiled (recipe differs naturally but not much). Hardship is that you need to keep stirring. Try not to leave it unattended for too long because it will clump and stick on the bottom of the pan, not forgetting the possible spillage!

Poor corn.. from an ear to grains and it will turn to mush soon! :P

Not necessary with this IKEA cup LOL
Just remember to measure with the same cup!

1 teaspoon of salt and bring the water to boil

Meanwhile, soak the cornmeal to rid its dirt and whatnots

When the water boils like it's never been boiled before..
Stir in cornmeal and be careful not to splash on yourself


Keep whisking until it becomes fluffy and soft (test yourself)
Note: this would be the point if you want to add anything extra


Goes well with almost any main dish especially with sauce!

Buon appetito!

(okay, okay.. next time I'll try to cook a different cuisine :P)

8 comments:

Wi said...

mm..tmr my turn to cook. maybe i'll try ur recipe.
but then, what will i do with the whole packet of cornmeal?

Anonymous said...

what does it taste like.. sweet? sour? no taste?

Gorgeous Ol' Eve Loves Vanilla. You? said...

Save it for another timelahhh LOL

Gorgeous Ol' Eve Loves Vanilla. You? said...

And.. Peanut, when Wi cooks it, you try and tell me tomorrow. I'll confirm with you if he cooked correctly or not :P

Anonymous said...

This is my first time to see a mais polenta. From your photo it looks good with sausages. yum!

In the meantime, have you seen a Counterbalanced High-Wire Bike? The Asian Traveler has it now. This is one of the cool features found at the National Taiwan Science Education Center. Hope you enjoy!

xacan said...

well, so ...what about this weekend...? hope, you did not finish all 600g alone;)

Anonymous said...

sorry la. i got my groceries and no cornmeal inside..hehe..maybe next time :)))

Gorgeous Ol' Eve Loves Vanilla. You? said...

Whatlarr you :)