My grandmother occasionally made a fabulous cornmeal dish — she called it mamaliga, the national dish of Romania — and served it with sweetened, mashed farmer cheese and sour cream. Sometimes with a drizzle of maple syrup over everything.
I never knew it as Malai, a classic Romanian Shavuot treat, but that’s what it was. But it wasn’t her usual, plain “cornmeal mush” because it also had eggs and sugar mixed into the batter.
All I knew was how delicious it tasted.
So, over the years I experimented over and over until I made a version that tastes something like what I remember.
Here it is, in time for Shavuot.
Romanian MALAI
The Batter:
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup finely ground cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk, half-and-half or buttermilk
2 large eggs
filling
sour cream, whipped cream, ice cream, etc. optional
extra sugar or maple syrup
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8-inch cake pan. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix to distribute the ingredients evenly. Add the milk, eggs and cooled, melted butter and mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Spoon one half of the cornmeal mixture into the prepared pan and spread the batter to make it even. Top with the filling. Top with the remaining batter (spread the batter to make a smooth, even top crust). Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the cake is set.
Serve the cake warm, room temperature or slightly chilled. Serve plain or topped with sour cream (traditional), whipped cream or ice cream. (I add about 2 teaspoons of sugar for each cup of sour cream used as a garnish).
Makes 8-10 servings
THE Filling:
1 pound farmer’s cheese
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon peel
Mix the farmer’s cheese, egg, sugar and lemon peel until the ingredients are well blended.