Banosh

Traditional Ukrainian fusion!

The rich tapestry of cuisine is shared, borrowed, and re-invented, and today we will share a story about a tasty Ukrainian dish that is a representation of how cultures from across the world influence one another.

In this case, the story starts with the establishment of a trade route with the Americas and bringing new foods that are now feeding most of the world – corn. With great respect we must recognize the sheer scale of the tragedy this trade route brought to people in the Americas. For the oppressed and always starving people in the Carpathians (anyone who has tried to grow crops in the mountains without modern technology knows what I am talking about) corn was a divine gift from faraway nations. Folk in the Carpathian mountains started to cultivate corn with great reverence and soon it became a staple food. And this is how Banosh was created – one of the first fusion dishes of traditional Ukrainian and world cuisines.

So what is banosh? It is a thick cornmeal porridge cooked on sour cream (sometimes fresh cream or milk) and served with bryndza (Ukrainian sheep cheese) and shkvarky (bacon cracklings). Sometimes it is served with caramelized onions and mushrooms. Banosh is a part of a large continuum of ground corn-oriented foods – in the same big family as polenta in Italy, Mămăligă in Romania, grits in the USA, hasty pudding in the UK, and pastel de choclo in Latin America.

Banosh – or banush, as the Hutsuls say – should be mixed only with a wooden spoon and it needs to be mixed only in one direction, preferably clockwise so all ingredients are evenly distributed in the porridge creating a golden goodness of flavors. The most aromatic and enigmatic banosh is created in a cauldron on an open fire outdoors, but as most of us do not really cook like that anymore (I will leave unanswered whether it is a bad or good thing), we will provide you with a different recipe as well. Also, what is super interesting is that, traditionally, banosh was cooked by men. I like this concept 🙂

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Traditional Banosh

This is a fantastic example of the consistency of a traditional banosh. If you zoom in, you can see that butter has started to separate from the porridge. Grandma would approve.

Ingredients:

• 500 ml of cream (or sour cream – although in this case, porridge will be a bit sour which we like 🙂 )
• 200g of cornmeal
• Pinch of salt
• Cheese (preferably sheep, something like fresh feta or farmer's cheese)
• Bacon (preferably something very fatty and thick-cut, like pancetta or pork belly)

Recipe:

1. Pour the cream into a cauldron (or a pan with thick walls), put on moderate heat, and bring to a boil.
2. Little by little, add cornmeal, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon
3. Reduce the heat to a low, add a pinch of salt, and cook, stirring, until the porridge is almost soft. You may need a little more cream at this stage, as the porridge should have the consistency of thick sour cream, without turning into a homogeneous "cake".
4. At the same time fry the bacon cut into cubes to create cracklings.
5. Back to the porridge – while the cauldron stays over heat, beat the porridge with a spoon so intensely that buttery oil appears on its surface (remember we did not add butter, so it is kind of cool!). When you see the melted butter – transfer it to a shallow plate.
6. Spread the cracklings on the banosh, and also spread the crumbed cheese on the plate as well – this needs to be done while the porridge is very hot so the cheese will melt!
7. Optional: Add fresh parsley and/or a fried egg.

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Vegetarian Recipe

And this is Yevhen Klopotenko's recipe with a more modern twist, as we all know that YouTubers always feel the need to add random stuff to the recipe – he can only hope my baba will not find him to give him a good prochuhana (thrashing) for altering traditional recipes!:

Ingredients:

• 100-150 g of mushrooms
• 450 ml of milk – full fat
• 150 g of cornmeal
• 100 ml of apple or wine vinegar
• 200 ml of water
• 1 onion
• 20 g butter
• Sunflower oil for sautéing mushrooms
• 1 tbsp of sour cream
• 50 g of hard cheese (could use cheddar or blue cheese – don't tell baba)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe:

1. Prepare the onion: cut it into thin half-rings and transfer it to a bowl. Pour 100 ml of apple cider vinegar, and 200 ml of cold water into it, and add a pinch of salt. Leave the onions to marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Wash and cut the mushrooms into medium strips. You can choose small mushrooms, then you don't need to cut them.
3. Heat a pan with 20g of butter and 1 tbsp of sunflower oil. Sauté the mushrooms for about 3-4 minutes.
4. Prepare corn grits according to the instruction on the packaging. Add salt to taste.
5. Add 1 tbsp of sour cream to the finished porridge. If you want to make the banosh lighter and easier to digest (as not all of us have an iron belly of Hutsuls) use low-fat sour cream. Mix the porridge with sour cream until smooth.
6. Take a deep plate for serving. Divide the banosh into two portions. Transfer the first portion of porridge to a plate, and add coarsely grated hard cheese. Do not mix.
7. Put the second portion of porridge on the cheese – this way it will melt. And on top of the cheese add mushrooms and then onions.
8. Serve immediately – it needs to still be hot.

According to Klopotenko, for banosh, you will need cornmeal of a medium grind. It becomes very tender during cooking, and the grains come together to form a smoother consistency.

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Very important! Banosh is a dish that is served hot and does not tolerate reheating, so do not count on leftovers. If you do, I am sure Domovyk will be super upset with you and will create some mischief at your home for squandering a perfectly good banosh!

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Смачного!

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Part of our series on Ukrainian recipes! You can find the other entries in the series here:

Borshch | Varenyky (Recipe) | Varenyky Cultural Background | Horilka | Banosh | Hrechanyky | Kyivskyi Cake | Makivnyk | Vyshnyak | Drunken Cherry Cake | Varenukha | Pumpkin Porridge | Lazy Varenyky | Holubtsi | Kalach | Kvas | Christmas Borshch | Uzvar | Kutya | Beetroot Salad | Kapusnyak (Traditional) | Nalysnyk | Bublyk | Deruny | Wild Mushroom Sauce | Kozak Kapusnyak | Yavorivskyi Pie | Spring Dough Birds | Kholodets | Easter Bread (Babka/Paska) | Khrin & Tsvikli | Shpundra | Teterya | Green Borshch | Kalatusha | Elderflower Kvas | Crimean Tatar Chebureky | Ryazhanka | Verhuny | Liubystok (Lovage) | Young Borshch with Hychka | Baturyn Cookies | Strawberry Varenyky | Stinging Nettle Pancakes | Kholodnyk | Syrnyky | Salo | Kotleta Po Kyivsky (Chicken Kyiv) | Savory Garlic Pampushky | Pampukh (Donuts) | Halushky | Odesa Borshch | Korovai | Hombovtsi | Traditional Medivnyk | Space Age Medivnyk | Mandryk | Pliatsky: Royal Cherry | Ohirkivka (Pickle Soup) | Benderyky | Pliatsok "Hutsulka" | Kruchenyky | Vereshchaka | Medivka | Honey Cookies | Fuchky | Khrinovukha | Knysh | Bryndzya | Kalyta | Pasulya Pidbyvana | Kapusnyak (Easy) | Kvasha | Kachana Kasha | Mazuryky | The Ponchyky of Lake Svitiaz | Rosivnytsia | Kulish | Shcherba | Dandelion Honey | Sandy Varenyky | Potaptsi | Kasha Zozulya | Tovchanka | Cherry Kompot | Crimean Tatar Coffee Culture | Stewed Cabbage with Prunes & Walnuts | Grated Pie with Fresh Strawberries | New Potatoes with Dill | Kysil | Zucchini Deruny | Manna Kasha | Varenyky with Cherries | Apple Carrot Salad | Vatrushka | Vylkove Fish Soup | Smerekova Khata | Banyk | Hartanachka

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The 1067th day of a ten-year invasion that has been going on for centuries.

One day closer to victory.

🇺🇦 HEROIAM SLAVA! 🇺🇦