Ah, the times when with an easy serveNikita Sergeyevich (who promised to show the Americans Kuzkina mother) corn was the queen of the fields. And corn bread was sold in stores then, and there was corn flour - heaps! But no, dishes made from corn flour do not take root in our East Slavic cuisine. Meanwhile, corn flour (like cereals) was and still remains a very popular ingredient in the cuisines of different peoples. Many have heard of the famous Italian polenta or Moldavian mamalyga, Mexican tortillas or Georgian mchadi. Americans (southern and northern) still honor corn, and in Southern Europe it remains in high esteem. And we ... We have nothing to brag about in this regard (except for the sweet corn sticks of Soviet times). Therefore, we can only learn the art of cooking dishes from corn flour, the recipes of which were inherited by modern people from the ancient Aztecs.

Tortillas from Mexico

Since we are talking about the Aztecs, who foundedMexico, then we will begin to master recipes for dishes made from corn flour with Mexican tortillas. These corn tortillas are delicious both on their own and as a basis for many Mexican dishes. Real tortillas require an open fire and a special clay frying pan. But we will cope with them perfectly well in a regular frying pan. Ingredients:

• Corn flour (one and a half cups)
• Water (half glass)
• Margarine (50 g)
• Salt

Preparation: Finely chop the margarine with a knife.Sift the flour and add it to the margarine, and a pinch of salt. Rub the margarine with the flour into crumbs and, gradually pouring in the water, knead the dough. Divide the dough into several parts (according to the number of future tortillas), cover with a towel and leave for about fifteen minutes. Then roll out the dough into round thin tortillas and fry them on both sides in a dry (without oil!) hot frying pan. The tortillas are ready! You can eat them instead of bread, or you can go further and cook... You can make tostadas from tortillas - the same flour tortillas, but fried in oil. If you put the filling between two tortillas, sprinkle them with cheese and fry in oil, the result will be a quesadilla. And if you roll the tortilla with the filling into a tube, the dish will already be called a burrito. Funny. Isn't it? But only Mexicans have fun like that. For example, in Georgia they prepare more “laconic” corn tortillas.

Mchad from Georgia

The recipes for mchadi and tortillas are very similar, but they are still different dishes. If you are interested in “feeling the difference,” cook both options and compare. Ingredients:

• Corn flour (3 cups)
• Butter (50 g)
• Water (one and a half cups)
• Salt

Add a piece of butter to the sifted flour,a pinch of salt and, adding water, knead a soft and slightly sticky dough. With wet hands, form oblong flat cakes from the dough, place them on a preheated frying pan and bake in the oven. This method of cooking mchadi is closest to baking them in traditional stone frying pans "ketsi". But many housewives fry mchadi in a frying pan in vegetable oil (like regular cutlets). Serve these flat cakes with cheese (ideally with Imeretian or suluguni).

Polenta from Italy

By and large, polenta is a filling anda tasty porridge, which was initially considered food for the poor. But over time, wealthier Italians “got the hang of it” and even “ennobled” it. Polenta recipes differ mainly in additives. It is prepared with cheese, vegetables, mushrooms, seafood, minced meat. To start, try making polenta with cheese. Ingredients:

• Corn meal (350 g)
• Water (600 ml)
• Milk (400 ml)
• Butter (150 g)
• Cheese (200 g)
• Toothed garlic
• A piece of stale bread
• Greenery

Preparation:Prepare the cheese (grated) and garlic butter for polenta in advance. For the latter, melt the butter in a frying pan and fry a crushed clove of garlic in it. For polenta, take only a thick-bottomed saucepan. Pour the water and milk into the saucepan and boil. Then add the crumbled bread and, stirring constantly, pour in all the flour. Cook it over low heat, stirring constantly (it is more convenient to do this with a wooden spatula). After cooking the polenta for about fifteen minutes, add the grated cheese to it. Add in small portions, waiting until all the cheese dissolves in the porridge. At the very end, pour in the garlic butter and remove the saucepan from the heat. Serve with herbs.

Corn bread from America (from Stephen King)

Are you surprised?No, of course, the master of literary horror stories himself did not invent this recipe and did not even publish it anywhere. But cornbread is often mentioned in his works. Remember "The Green Mile"? And the cornbread that Tom Hanks' character treated the black giant to? And, for sure, this bread was prepared according to a traditional recipe, which is held in high esteem by all housewives in the southern American states. Ingredients:

• A glass of corn flour
• A glass of yoghourt
• A tablespoon of sugar
• Incomplete glass of water
• Egg
• Butter (2 tablespoons)
• Baking Powder (sachet)
• Salt
• Food soda (a quarter teaspoon)

Preparation:Turn on the oven in advance and place an empty thick-bottomed frying pan in it (let it warm up). Meanwhile, pour a tablespoon of flour into a bowl and pour boiling water over it (not a full glass). Whisk the brewed flour, add sour milk (kefir, yogurt) and an egg. In another bowl, mix the remaining flour, sugar, salt, soda and baking powder and pour it all into the liquid mixture. Knead the dough (with a whisk or fork, but not a mixer) until all the lumps dissolve. Take the frying pan out of the oven and melt the butter in it. Pour the butter into the dough, and grease the entire frying pan with the rest. Mix the dough again and pour it into the pan. Bake for twenty to thirty minutes. The bread is ready when it has a golden crust and starts to come away from the sides of the pan. Note: Spicy additives and fillings (red pepper, saffron, garlic, fried smoked meats, cheese, etc.) are added to the dough only before it is poured into the pan. In general, corn flour is considered a dietary and healthy product. It is not for nothing that recipes for dishes made from it are so “multinational”. So don’t pass by if you see a bag of corn flour on the supermarket shelf. Try yourself in the role of a researcher of the culture of the ancient Aztecs, who not only loved corn, but also revered it, calling it their golden sun.

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