Here is another of our tutorials on how to deal with basic ingredients, which in this case is about cooking polenta from scratch. Polenta (or cornmeal) is incredibly popular in northern Italy, as it is a pretty perfect accompaniment to the kind of cuisine created in the mountain-sides of my country. However, this preparation is so delicious that it has managed to find its way to the tables of half the globe, if not all of it. If you don’t know exactly what polenta is, but you do have access to coarse cornmeal, then this recipe is the only thing that separates you from a phenomenal polenta dish.
For a dense polenta:
3 cupwater
1¼ cupnon-dairy milk
½ tspsalt
2 cupcoarse corn grits
For a medium polenta:
3 cupwater
1¼ cupnon-dairy milk (or water)
½ tspsalt
1½ cupcoarse corn grits (cornmeal)
For a soft polenta:
3 cupwater
1¼ cupnon-dairy milk
½ tspsalt
1 cupcoarse corn grits
To clean the pot after the cooking process:
2 tbspbaking soda
1¼ cupwater
Instructions
- Place a pot over a high heat and pour in all the water and the milk. Add in the salt and stir to dissolve it.
- Once the liquid reaches the boiling point, pour the polenta into the water whilst whisking to disperse it.
- As soon as the polenta thickens a bit, stop whisking, lower the heat to the minimum and cover the pan with the lid.
- Leave the polenta to cook over the lowest heat for 10 minutes.
- Once the time has elapsed, remove the lid and stir the polenta vigorously, making sure to scrape the entire surface of the pan. Then, place the lid back on and cook for another 10 minutes.
- You want to repeat this process 4 times, for a total cooking time of 40 minutes.
- Once the cooking time has elapsed, you can serve the polenta as it is with any topping you desire. We strongly suggest to try it in combination with our lentils ragù bolognese.
Substitutions and Tips
- The amount of salt needed to make polenta taste “salty” is simply unbelievable, so we recommend to sprinkle it on top of the polenta before eating it, instead of adding it into the recipe.
- The non-dairy milk can be substituted with an equal amount of water or vegetables stock.
Yield, Times and Info
Makes: 1kg - 2lb 5oz (3-4 servings)
Preparation Time: 5m
Cooking Time: 50m
Total Time: 55m
Storage Times: Keeps for 4 days in the fridge
Preparation Time: 5m
Cooking Time: 50m
Total Time: 55m
Storage Times: Keeps for 4 days in the fridge
Nutritional Info
Serving Size: 250g (medium polenta) Calories: 256kcal Carbohydrate: 54g Sugar: 0.4g Fiber: 4.7g Fat: 3g Saturated Fat: 0.3g Unsaturated Fat: 2.7g Protein: 4.3g Sodium: 30mg Water: 188g
