How to cook banush at home. Banosh: recipe in a slow cooker

Banosh Hutsulsky is an everyday dish that is prepared in the Carpathians, namely in mountainous areas. About three or even four times a week, he is at the dinner table of the locals. Previously, banosh was considered the food of the poor, but at present it is a national and extremely popular dish. It is served in local cafes and restaurants. The local population claims that the Hutsul banosh cannot be cooked at home, as it is made in a large cauldron on a fire. It is with the help of such heat treatment that the dish acquires a magnificent taste and divine aroma.

If it is not possible to cook on a fire, the Hutsul banosh is cooked at home. A step-by-step banosh recipe will help you cope with the task and prepare a national Ukrainian dish. As for the banosh ingredients, the recipe suggests using not only cornmeal, but sheep/goat cheese as well. In addition, you can not do without fried bacon, namely cracklings. It is advisable to use a good piece of bacon with a meat slot. Some people add porcini mushrooms to make the taste and aroma of banosh more intense, bright and memorable.

To make banosh real, it is important to follow some rules. First of all, a man should cook such a Hutsul dish. The ideal way to cook is a cauldron on a fire, as the dish must absorb the chic smell of smoke, absorb the strength and energy from the fire.

The second equally important rule is that the dish is cooked on homemade sour cream, which has stood for three days in the refrigerator. The main highlight of banosh is that it should have a light, unobtrusive sourness. Do not use cream instead of sour cream, you will get a different taste. If desired, you can dilute fat sour cream using water, milk.

The third rule is hidden in the magic of the Hutsul dish. That is why, according to an ancient legend, the dish should be stirred in one direction using a wooden spoon. If you use an ordinary, iron spoon, you will not be able to achieve the right taste. As for readiness, the dish itself will tell you when to remove the dishes from the fire. Banosh is stirred until oil droplets begin to appear on the walls of the pan. At this stage, liquid, sticky porridge becomes sliding, tender, smooth. This indicates that the banosh is dancing.

Ingredients

To prepare banosh, you will need the following ingredients:

Cooking

Algorithm for cooking Hutsul dishes:

1. Prepare all foods. Pour milk, sour cream into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Do not replace sour cream with cream, otherwise you will get a completely different dish. If desired, you can add a little salt, but keep in mind that the brisket and cheese are salty, so you don’t need to overdo it.

2. The mixture is stirred with a wooden spatula, the cereal is carefully poured in a thin stream. This is extremely important so that lumps do not form, they are not needed in this Ukrainian dish. It is better to use the finest grits.

3. During cooking, you need to constantly stir the banosh. Cooking takes about twenty minutes. It all depends on what kind of grinding of cereals you used in the recipe.

4. Then thinly slice the brisket. If you wish, you can refuse to use this ingredient and take bacon or lard instead.

5. Heat the pan on the stove, send the prepared brisket to it. Fry for five minutes until golden brown.

6. During the preparation of banosh, you can do cheese. It can be cut into small cubes, but it is better to grate (large).

Hutsul traditions beckon the inhabitants with their mysteries and secrets. One has only to remember the famous film by Sergei Paradzhanov "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors", as images of the mountainous Carpathians, clear springs, birch trembita and forest mawks appear in our imagination, hiding among the trees and luring random travelers into their arms. It is among this pristine beauty that people live who wear embroidered sheep and, of course, cook in a cauldron a traditional dish for this region - banosh. The smell of a fire, of course, gives it a special charm. But if you cook this dish at home, it will come out no less tasty.

Banosh Secrets

There is nothing complicated in cooking. Banosh, the recipe of which was invented by the Hutsuls, is the soul of their cuisine. This kind of porridge is boiled in milk, cream or sour cream. For Western Ukraine and nearby regions of Romania, the dish is an everyday dish, it often appears on the tables of local residents. If you visit the Transcarpathian region, the historical homeland of banosh, you will be able to taste porridge not only in any restaurant, but also visiting locals. Residents here are very welcoming guests and are always happy to visit tourists.

The dish is especially popular in the Rakhiv region. Every year, a festival dedicated to banosh is held here, where you can try different variations of porridge. Previously, it was considered a dish of the poor. Sheep were bred by almost all locals. And banosh was cooked when there was nothing left to eat in the house, except for a handful of cereals and a couple of spoons of sour cream. Today, not a single chic feast or wedding in the Hutsul style can do without this delicacy.

Subtleties of cooking

If you come to the Carpathians, then only men will be cooking this dish. “Porridge does not tolerate female hands,” the Hutsuls joke, mysteriously conjuring over a huge cauldron with a gurgling delicacy. The thing is that sheep breeding is the traditional work of the representatives of the stronger sex, therefore the dishes associated with it automatically become the prerogative of the heads of families.

Banosh porridge, the recipe of which is sacredly kept in any Hutsul family, is saturated not only with smoke from the fire, but also with various legends. They say that they named it after the local Hutsul. A long time ago lived in these places Gazda Banosh, known throughout the region for his love of work. After a hard working day spent in the field, he would come home, where his wife brought him a nutritious meal to restore strength and energy - corn porridge seasoned with fragrant pieces of bacon sizzling after the fire. At the same time, she would say: "Eat, Banosh, eat." This is where the name of the delicacy came from: it was immediately picked up by the locals and, spread throughout the district, it quickly took root in every Transcarpathian hut.

Main Ingredients

If you want to pamper your household with a traditional Hutsul dish, then cook banosh with milk. The recipe includes the following main components: 400 grams 100 gr. sheep cheese - feta cheese, 50 gr. smoked fat. Sour cream and milk are usually taken as the basis - 250 ml each, but cream can be safely used instead of the latter. The main thing is that they are not store-bought, but completely homemade, natural.

Cornmeal must be sifted through a sieve. Ideally, if it is finely ground, in this case the porridge will turn out to be more homogeneous and tender. It is advisable to use sour cream not fresh: it is better if it stands for two or three days in the refrigerator before that. The Hutsuls kept it in a barn so that it would not turn sour. We don’t have such a room, so in a pinch, a balcony will do, unless, of course, it’s + 30ºС outside the window. By the way, banosh is seasoned with lard cracklings, but you can additionally use dill or paprika as a seasoning to taste.

Classic banosh

This dish includes all of the above ingredients, the proportions of which are designed for two persons. For cooking in cauldrons, a classic recipe is provided. Hutsul banosh, in accordance with it, is cooked on sour cream from sheep's milk. You can replace this component with cream: they will not spoil the taste, but, on the contrary, will add some zest to the dish.

We start simple. Dilute sour cream with a small amount of water or vegetable broth, pour into a cauldron and bring to a boil. Then we take cornmeal: pour it into the cauldron in a small stream, while constantly stirring the liquid so that it does not burn. Add salt and pepper to taste. Porridge is considered ready when it has reached a thick consistency and has become similar to semolina. After that, with a wooden spoon or a ladle, we put it in deep plates, sprinkle with feta cheese, pre-finely crumbled, as well as cracklings - small pieces of lard, fried in a pan to a crust. Do not mix ingredients. The dish should be served hot.

Ingredients for banosh in a slow cooker

Unfortunately, we do not live in the mountains. For an ordinary city person, bonfires with bowlers are available only in rare cases: during a hike or while relaxing in the countryside. Therefore, in order to prepare a delicious dish, modern people have to make some adjustments to the classic recipe. Banosh with cheese is delicious and, of course, very healthy. But it is not always possible to find it in city supermarkets and markets, so it can be replaced with the usual one: solid Russian or Dutch, as well as melted.

Based on this, we need the following components:

600 gr. milk.
450 gr. homemade or purchased sour cream (20% fat).
450 gr. corn grits (approximately 3 multi-cups).
200-300 gr. bryndza or other cheese.
100 gr. fat.
Butter and vegetable oil.
Salt and pepper.

If for some reason you do not eat lard, then you can replace it with mushrooms. They go perfectly with cheese and corn porridge. Using ordinary champignons, you can cook mushroom banosh. The recipe for cooking in a slow cooker will be slightly different from the classic version.

Basic Recipe

We turn on the multicooker, setting the “Frying” mode in it. Pour a little vegetable oil into the bowl (40-50 gr.). While it is heating, finely chop the onion. It is not necessary to use it, but since we do not have a cauldron that gives the dish a specific taste, we are trying to add zest in a different way. And the bow is perfect for this purpose.

We rub the cheese on a grater. We cut the mushrooms into slices. In boiling oil, first send the onion. After it acquires a golden hue, add mushrooms to it and pass them together. When the components start up the juice, we shift them into a separate bowl. Wash the bowl of the multicooker thoroughly and pour the cereal into it. Add milk, sour cream and spices. We select the "Buckwheat" mode and cook porridge for 35 minutes. When the time is up, using the "Heating" function, we simmer our banosh for 30-40 minutes. The recipe in the slow cooker is designed for the fact that in the end the porridge will turn out to be crumbly and quite boiled. We put it, hot and freshly prepared, on plates, grease with butter, sprinkle with cheese and put mushrooms with onions on top.

Other types of banosh in a slow cooker

Our imagination is the source of new variations of the dish. Feel free to experiment to make banosh to your liking and your own personal interpretation.

To prepare porridge, first you need to rinse it thoroughly under running water and pour it into a slow cooker. Top the cereal with a mixture of milk and sour cream, while adding sugar and salt to taste. By the way, if the device does not have the “Buckwheat” function, then you can cook porridge in other modes: “Milk porridge” or “Extinguishing”.

While the porridge is being cooked in a slow cooker for half an hour, fry the onions and carrots in a pan, as well as the diced brisket or minced meat. Spread the meat filling on top of the porridge. By the way, women also often use cottage cheese. The product has the qualities that make banosh prepared in a slow cooker as useful and nutritious as possible. The recipe with mushrooms and brynza makes it possible to prepare an amazingly tasty dish. But with cottage cheese, porridge comes out no less appetizing.

Meet Banosha's "brother" Tokan

Very often, these two dishes are confused or considered that there is no difference between them. But this is a gross mistake. Banosh and tokan are indeed very similar, but there are still fundamental differences between them. First, the tokan is prepared with water. A layer of porridge, laid out in a multicooker bowl, is poured with water or light and cooked for 30-40 minutes. Such a dish, due to the lack of a sour cream base, is lighter and less high-calorie.

Secondly, the filling in the tokan is laid out not on top, but between the layers of porridge. That is, part of the finished cereal is transferred to a dish, sprinkled with cheese, grated cheese or cottage cheese. Followed by another layer of porridge. The rest of the filling and a few cracklings fried in a pan are poured on top. There can be as many layers of tokan as you like, and the more there are, the tastier the dish is. Thirdly, banosh is a native of the Rakhiv region of Transcarpathia. The tokan recipe is more used by residents of the neighboring Tyachevsky region of the same Ukrainian region.

banosh benefits

The main component of the dish is corn grits, which is rich in fiber. It perfectly cleanses the intestines, while preventing the development of putrefactive processes in the body. The selenium contained in it protects against stress and slows down aging. Porridge is recommended for children and the elderly, as it contains a large amount of carotene and strengthens the immune system. It also does not cause allergies.

Banosh, the recipe of which is described above, is useful for people suffering from anemia. It contains vitamins E and B12. Pregnant women, who often suffer from a lack of folic acid, simply cannot do without the presence of porridge on the menu. It should be the basis of their diet. Banosh also contains magnesium, potassium and phosphorus - trace elements that contribute to the normal functioning of the cardiovascular system.

But it is worth noting that for all the advantages of the dish, it also has a number of contraindications. So, banosh is very high in calories, so it is not recommended to eat it for people prone to obesity, and for those who have high blood cholesterol levels. It is also prohibited for patients with problems with the gastrointestinal tract.

Hutsul banush (banosh) is an everyday dish in the mountainous regions of the Ukrainian Carpathians, 3-4 times a week it is sure to be on the tables of local residents. Once upon a time, banosh was considered the food of the poor, and now this national dish is served to tourists in the best Hutsul restaurants.
However, the indigenous Carpathians argue that the Hutsul banush cannot be cooked at home or in restaurant kitchens. True Transcarpathian-style banosh is boiled only on a fire in large cauldrons, due to which it acquires a unique taste, saturated with the aroma of smoke.
And what then to do for those who do not have a fire and a cauldron, but would like to try banosh? Deviate a little from the Carpathian traditions and still make it in your kitchen. The recipe below with photos will help you cope with this wonderful Ukrainian dish. In addition to cornmeal, the list of ingredients necessarily includes soft goat or sheep cheese, as well as cracklings - fried lard, preferably undercuts with a slot. Porcini mushrooms are often added, which make the taste even more intense.
The Hutsul recipe for banush involves the use of corn flour, which is used for baking bread and flat cakes. In urban conditions, it can be replaced with grains of the finest grinding, which will practically not affect the taste of the finished dish. To give a characteristic smoky flavor, it is recommended to use smoked lard or bacon for cooking.

Taste Info Second: cereals

Ingredients

cornmeal or finely ground groats - 100 g;
sour cream (20% fat) - 1 tbsp.;
water - 1.5 tbsp.;
salt - 0.5 tsp;
cheese - 30 g;
bacon - 50 g.

How to cook Transcarpathian banosh on sour cream with cheese and cracklings

Pour sour cream into a cauldron or deep frying pan and dilute it with water. If the sour cream is liquid, you can use it in its pure form, undiluted, increasing the amount to 2.5 cups.

We put sour cream on the fire, bring to a boil and gradually add cornmeal or grits.

Add the corn flour in a thin stream, stirring quickly with a wooden spoon so that no lumps form.

Add salt and continue to cook over low heat, stirring constantly so that the corn porridge does not burn.

After 15-20 minutes, the porridge will thicken, it will be easy to separate from the walls of the cauldron or pan, small droplets of fat from sour cream will appear on its surface. This means that it is ready, remove it from the heat, close the lid tightly and let it evaporate for 10-15 minutes.

In the meantime, cut the fat into small oblong pieces or a small cube, and then fry in a hot pan until golden brown. If desired, diced onion can be added to the melted cracklings, which will make the banosh dressing more fragrant.

We lay out the corn porridge on plates, pour over it with fat and cracklings and sprinkle with cheese, crumbled or chopped on a coarse grater.

Serve the finished banush hot, without stirring.

Adviсe:

the Hutsuls themselves recommend serving lightly salted cucumbers to the banush;
do not use metal utensils to stir the banush, only a wooden spatula or spoon, the metal oxidizes and due to this, sour cream (cream) can curdle;
banush on sour cream has a slightly noticeable sourness, if someone does not like this taste, you can use cream instead of sour cream.

Banosh (banush) is a traditional and very tasty dish of Ukrainian Hutsul cuisine. This is not hominy, not polenta, not gomi and not simple corn porridge. At first glance, a simple and unpretentious dish is a whole ritual in preparation.

Firstly, according to the rules, only men can cook banosh. The best option for preparing the most delicious banosh is on a real fire in a cauldron high in the mountains. They say that the banosh should be saturated with smoke and gain fire. Of course, in our conditions it is not available to anyone.

Secondly, a delicious banosh is preferably prepared on homemade sour cream, which has stood for 3 days in a cold place. Banosh should be a little sour - this is its highlight. Do not replace homemade sour cream with cream - it will turn out completely different. Sour cream can be diluted quite a bit with milk or water.

Thirdly, banosh is simply a magical dish. According to legend, you need to stir banosh with a wooden spoon only in one direction. An iron spoon will not give the right taste. Banosh will tell you when he is ready. You must stir the dish until drops of oil appear on the walls of the cauldron or pan, as well as on the surface of the banosh. It is at this moment that the banosh dramatically changes and turns from a sticky and liquid porridge into a smooth, tender and delicious thing sliding along the walls, which follows the wooden spoon in the pan, repeating all its movements. At this point it is said that "the banosh is dancing".

Banosh is often cooked in Hutsul families, since each family consists mainly of 6 or more people. Every day they all have to do everyday hard work: mow, plow, carry hay, chop wood, herd sheep, pick mushrooms and berries. And all this in the mountains, when your neighbor can live 800 meters above you and it is not so easy to get to any point in the village.

And banosh is easy to prepare. It is rich, nutritious and delicious. Banosh is served with sheep cheese, cracklings, sometimes with fried mushrooms. There are many banosh recipes. It can be thicker or more liquid. If you like a thinner banosh, add less corn grits for the suggested amount of liquid. Bon Appetit everyone!

Every Hutsul housewife knows how to cook banosh: graze a cow in an ecologically clean meadow, milk it, collect cream, sift corn grits and send it all in a cast-iron to the stove, or even better - to the fire. If you don’t have all of the above at hand, don’t worry, banosh is in the city, at home it’s also great.

5 main rules of the Hutsul banosh

Banush, banosh, tokan - it is called differently in different parts of the Carpathians, this is by no means an everyday dish, but a Sunday or festive dish. There is a simple explanation for this: they cook it exclusively on cream, and not on milk, and to get 1 liter of cream (for 3-4 servings) you need 10 liters of fresh milk.

No flour! Only finely ground cereals, since the total cooking time is no more than 30-35 minutes, and large fractions will not have time to cook during this time, and if you increase the cooking time, the dishes will come out too greasy and steep.

Metal tools inevitably spoil the taste of food - during cooking, it is vigorously stirred with a wooden spoon or spatula.

You heard right, you need to stir the Hutsul corn porridge all 30 minutes while it is cooking, and this is necessary not only so that there are no lumps. The banosh recipe does not contain ready-made butter - it is formed during the heating of the cream and does not allow the grits to stick to the walls of the cauldron.

It is possible to cook tokan tasty, delicate and with the right taste only in a cauldron made of cast iron and over low heat. Of course, you can try to cook a Carpathian delicacy in modern technological dishes, but in this case it is impossible to guarantee a good result. Why? Because cast iron heats up slowly, but the heat in it is distributed evenly, it lasts for a long time, and in order for the food to burn, you need to try hard.

3 main features of banosh

It is called the ceremonial version of hominy - an everyday very cool corn brew popular in Western Ukraine and Moldova. In Georgia, it is also known as gomi, in Italy - as polenta, in Serbia - kachamak, in Turkey - mukhlama. A similar dish exists in quite exotic countries like Antigua and Barbuda and is called ku-ku there, but the Hutsul version cannot be confused with anything:

tokan is eaten only hot and never served chilled, like hominy or kachamak;

it is still porridge, which is eaten with a spoon, and not cut into slices, like polenta;

the concept of "banosh" includes a set of several dishes - the actual hot cereal base, fresh homemade cheese and guslyanka - a fermented milk drink, which in the Carpathian region is called "Hutsul beer" for its anti-hangover qualities. In some regions or houses, all this is supplemented with cracklings.

How to cook goose with your own hands

In the Hutsulshchyna, if their own guslyanka suddenly runs out, they take the leaven for it from their neighbors, although sometimes you have to walk a couple of kilometers and climb the mountain for this, but you can do it on your own.

Ingredients:

milk - 1 l
sour cream - 1 tbsp. l.

Boil homemade fresh milk, pour into thick milk and leave to cool to 42 degrees Celsius. Next, add a spoonful of sour cream and, without stirring, leave in a warm place. Cover the neck with a clean cloth, not a lid, and wrap the vessel in something warm. After 12 hours, put in the refrigerator, after 24 hours the drink is ready.

3 secrets of delicious banush

To get a real meal at the exit, the contents of the pot must be mixed in one direction.

In the Carpathians, it is also boiled with sour cream, but the taste will be much sourer and more oily, since cream is a whole milk product with a fat content of up to 35%, and sour cream is sour milk, but more fatty - up to 58%.

Previously, it was believed that the most delicious banush is obtained from men and only on an open fire, and this is the only statement, the veracity of which the author did not have time to verify personally.

Cooking:

time - 30-35 minutes

servings - 2-4

Ingredients:

cream - 500 ml

very finely ground cornmeal - 1 tbsp.

salt - ½ tsp

cheese - 200 g

goose (kefir, curdled milk, gerolact) - 500-700 ml

Sift the corn grits through a colander, set aside the grains remaining on the grid. Retry the operation. Pour the cream into a saucepan and bring almost to a boil. Salt. Pour the grits into the cream in a thin stream and stir immediately with a wooden spoon. You remember, you should interfere in one direction and quite intensively. Watch when oil droplets appear on the surface, and the mixture begins to lag behind the walls of the cauldron - from this moment on, stir, even rub, it must be especially careful not to burn, but after 3-5-7 minutes it will be ready.

Arrange the finished banosh on ceramic plates (and if you warm them up a little in advance, it will only be better), serve cheese on a separate dish or wooden board, pour goslyanka or another sour-milk drink into cups and, if you want to make the table even more satisfying, add cracklings.

This is how the favorite dish of the Hutsuls is prepared in Verkhovynskyi, the highest mountainous region of the Ukrainian Carpathians on the border with Romania. Enjoy your meal!