{"id":16956,"date":"2022-02-24T07:39:29","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T12:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=16956"},"modified":"2022-08-04T12:46:04","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T16:46:04","slug":"ukrainian-banush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=16956","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian Banush"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I\u2019ve got Ukraine on the brain and if you\u2019re following the news, you probably do too. I don\u2019t delve into politics on this platform (although I certainly do elsewhere) but I feel the need to shine a little light on Ukraine, at least through a culinary lens.<\/p>\n

I lead a food tour through Brooklyn\u2019s Brighton Beach area, also known as Little Odessa; Odessa is the third largest city in Ukraine and a major center of tourism. On that ethnojunket, we sample delicacies from Russia as well as Ukraine and other Former Soviet Union satellite countries like Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Sputnik \u2013 you know, the satellites.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s considerable crossover among the cuisines, but in this post I\u2019m highlighting a dish I prepared that\u2019s dear to the hearts of Ukrainians, banush (\u0431\u0430\u043d\u0443\u0448, aka banosh, \u0431\u0430\u043d\u043e\u0448), a cornmeal porridge, first cousin to Romanian\/Polish\/Moldavan mamaliga and Italy\u2019s polenta; the Ukrainian style is made with sour cream \u2013 make it with water and you\u2019ve got Cousin Mamaliga or Zia Polenta. Most recipes I\u2019ve seen call for cutting the sour cream with water but I use chicken broth instead plus the addition of a little butter for richness and bacon fat for a hint of smokiness.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s typically served with a sharp sheep\u2019s milk cheese like bryndza crumbled on top and bits of bacon or salo, sometimes with mushrooms as well. I\u2019ve plated it alongside grilled kovbasa on a bed of caramelized onions with sour cream on the side. Just one example of Ukrainian soul food.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 It\u2019s no coincidence that I\u2019ve chosen a blue plate for this yellow dish. \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6<\/p>\n

Sending prayers for peace to the resolute people of Ukraine.
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I\u2019ve got Ukraine on the brain and if you\u2019re following the news, you probably do too. Read on…. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[158],"class_list":["post-16956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-cookin","tag-ukrainian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16956"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17929,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16956\/revisions\/17929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}