Kaguyjy

Ingredients

The maize

• 500 gdried white maize kernels
• locro maize if you can find it
• water, for soaking and cooking

For the ash treatment

• 3 tablespoonsclean wood ash
• or 1 tablespoon food-grade slaked lime
• 2 litreswater

To serve

• 1 litremilk
• 150 gsugar
• or 150 ml black treacle
• or miel negra, cane molasses
• 1cinnamon stick
• a pinch of salt

Directions

1. Keep it well away from your face. Never taste the soaking liquid. Rinse the maize extremely thoroughly afterwards. Use only clean hardwood ash for this. It must come from untreated wood. Sieve the ash to remove charcoal pieces. White field maize is what this needs.
2. Put the ash in a large pot of water. Stir it and let it settle for an hour. Pour off the clear liquid carefully. Leave all the sediment behind. Put the maize into that clear liquid. Bring the whole pot up to a simmer.
3. Let it cook for about forty-five minutes. Judging the treatment takes a test. Take out one kernel and rub it. The skin should slip off easily. Take the pot right off the heat. Let the maize steep in the liquid. Give it several hours or overnight. Drain all of the maize completely. Rinse it well under running water.
4. Rub the kernels between your hands. Keep on rinsing and rubbing it. All the alkali must be washed out. Rinse it in at least five changes of water. Keep going until the water runs clear. The maize should smell entirely clean.
5. Put the rinsed maize in a large pot. Cover it well with fresh water. Bring the whole pot up to a boil. Give it about an hour and a quarter. Top up with hot water as it reduces. The kernels should burst open. Add all of the milk to the pot now. Add the sugar and the cinnamon stick. Add the pinch of salt as well. Let it simmer another fifteen minutes.
6. Stir it regularly so it does not catch. It also stops the maize softening further. Add milk if it goes too thick. Leave the milk out of it entirely. Serve the maize porridge plain and warm.
7. Pour black treacle over each bowl. Serving it is done warm in bowls. Ladle it out into deep warm bowls. Pour extra milk over it if you like. It keeps three days refrigerated.

Technique

• Cooking maize in alkaline ash water is nixtamalisation, developed in the Americas long ago: it loosens the tough skin, softens the kernel and releases the niacin that maize otherwise holds in a form the body cannot absorb.
• Without that treatment a maize-heavy diet causes pellagra, a serious niacin deficiency disease, and populations that adopted maize without the technique suffered it; that history is well documented.
• Ash water and slaked lime are both caustic, so wear gloves, keep them away from your face and never taste the liquid; the maize must then be rinsed in at least five changes of water until it runs clear, since any alkali left makes the porridge soapy and caustic.

Substitutions

• Food-grade slaked lime can replace wood ash, using rather less of it.
• Only clean hardwood ash from untreated wood should be used, never ash from treated timber or briquettes.

Variations

• Some cooks mash part of the maize to thicken and smooth it.
• It is served with milk and sugar or with black treacle instead.
• Mazamorra is the other name used for the same dish.

History

Also called mazamorra, cooked from white maize with wood ash and served with milk or black treacle.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kaguyjy?

Kaguyjy is a dessert from Paraguay: sweet maize porridge with milk or molasses, eaten warm. Also called mazamorra, cooked from white maize with wood ash and served with milk or black treacle.

How long does Kaguyjy take to make?

Kaguyjy takes 20 minutes plus soaking of preparation and 2 hours of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Kaguyjy?

Yes, within limits. Food-grade slaked lime can replace wood ash, using rather less of it. Only clean hardwood ash from untreated wood should be used, never ash from treated timber or briquettes.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kaguyjy?

Keep it well away from your face. Never taste the soaking liquid. Rinse the maize extremely thoroughly afterwards. Use only clean hardwood ash for this. It must come from untreated wood. Sieve the ash to remove charcoal pieces. White field maize is what this needs.