Vegan Banosh (Ukrainian Corn Grits with Mushrooms)

Anastasia

5 years ago

Banosh is a highlight dish of Ukrainian Carpathian cuisine. It is extremely far from being vegan or healthy. Basically it is cornmeal cooked in homemade sour cream which is high in fat and topped with very salty Brynza cheese, fried pork skin, onions, mushrooms and so on. You can imagine how terrible it is. But I used to like it.

My vegan Banosh resembles the taste of original one but it’s so much lighter and healthier. If you taste plain Banosh or vegan brynza separately they won’t amaze you. But when you put everything together it magically turns into fantastic authentic Western Ukrainian dish.

Keep in mind that vegan brynza is very salty so you need just a little bit of extra salt to sprinkle mushrooms and none for Banosh base.

The next important thing is mushrooms. Porcini mushrooms are very flavorsome and they are common in Carpathian region. If you can’t find them use the most flavorful wild mushrooms that you can get and increase the flavor by adding touch of soy sauce and more caramelized onion.

Drain and pat dry tofu with paper towels. Crumble it with clean hands. Add salt, lemon juice and nutritional yeast. Mix well and set aside.

Bring to boil the mixture of water, soya milk and coconut oil in a big heavy bottom pan. Now very slowly add cornmeal stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Then add apple cider vinegar and continue stirring on low heat for 15-20 minutes. You want to reach very thick consistency, thicker than polenta.

Switch of the heat, cover with a lid and let it sit for 5 minutes.

While Banosh is cooking heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté onion until translucent. Throw in garlic and porcini mushrooms and cook until golden brown.

Serve vegan Banosh with sautéed mushrooms, tofu brynza and cracked black pepper.

Vegan Banosh (Ukrainian Corn Grits with Porcini Mushrooms)

Vegan Banosh – Ukrainian Carpathian corn grits with sautéed wild mushrooms and vegan brynza cheese.

Author: Anastasia
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 2
Category: Main course
Cuisine: Ukrainian

Ingredients

For Banosh:

1 C cornmeal
2 C water
1 C soya milk
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

For vegan brynza cheese:

120g firm tofu
1 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp nutritional yeast (optional)

For sautéed porcini mushrooms:

1 C chopped porcini mushrooms
1 small onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
oil for cooking
black pepper and salt to taste

Instructions

Drain and pat dry tofu with paper towels. Crumble it with clean hands. Add salt, lemon juice and nutritional yeast. Mix well and set aside.
Bring to boil the mixture of water, soya milk and coconut oil in a big heavy bottom pan. Now very slowly add cornmeal stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
Then add apple cider vinegar and continue stirring on low heat for 15-20 minutes. You want to reach very thick consistency, thicker than polenta.
Switch of the heat, cover with a lid and let it sit for 5 minutes.
While Banosh is cooking heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté onion until translucent. Throw in garlic and porcini mushrooms and cook until golden brown.
Serve vegan Banosh with sautéed mushrooms, tofu brynza and cracked black pepper.