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Mayi Moulen ak Aransò | Creamed Cornmeal with Smoked Herring

40-45 minutes

super easy

Serves: 4-6

Mayi Moulen ak aransò is a great dish, ask me that 4 years ago, I wouldn’t agree. The smell of Aransò (smoked herring) was so gross to me but ohh how things have changed. What once made me gag is now a pleasant and enticing scent. I used to say Yuck and now I say Yum. I tasted the smoked herring patties from a Haitian Bakery called La Baguette and that made me fall deeper in love with herring, how could something taste so good??? Anyway now that I’ve experimented with it I want to share my recipe for Mayi Moulen ak Aransò (Cornmeal/Polenta with Smoked Herring). Trust me, if you give it a try you too will like it.

Desalting the smoked herring is super easy, boil it in some water for about 5-6 minutes, discard the water. Smoked herring is not as salty as salted codfish so you don’t really need to repeat that step more than once. I like to take 90% of the bones out just because I’m anal about stuff like that. People say that if you leave them, the bones will melt down; I can’t say if that is a fact or not but what I can say is that I’ve never gotten stabbed in the mouth by the 10% of bones that I do leave in there.

After deboning I use my cutting board and a large sharp knife to finely chop it down. If you’re old school and really want to channel your Haitian roots go ahead and use a Pilon (mortar and pestle) the original food processor (LOL).

The type of cornmeal I used was fine, my mom likes to use a coarser one but I’m not a big fan of it so I use the one that comes out super smooth and creamy. When I say fine I don’t mean the one that resembles a powder, it’s still grainy but small grains.

 

As I said above, try this you will like it!!!

Watch me make Mayi Moulen ak Aransò here:

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Ingredients

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1 ½ cup fine cornmeal, rinsed
3 pieces of smoked herring, desalted , deboned and finely chopped
⅛ cup oil
⅛ cup epis
⅓ cup diced onions
1 roma tomato, diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 sprig of thyme
⅛ tsp clove powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon chicken base or half a rectangular bouillon cube
½ - 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce or pikliz juice
4 ⅓ cups water

Directions

1.

Desalt your smoked herring, place in a small saucepan, cover with water and boil for about 6 minutes; discard water and cover with cold water to allow it to cool off before handling. Remove as many bones as you can and finely chop.
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2.

On medium to high heat add oil, epis and saute for a few seconds then add onions, tomatoes and herring and mix.
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3.

After about 1 minute add tomato paste then chicken base and mix. Add 4 ⅓ cups of water, salt, clove powder, black pepper, thyme, hot pepper sauce and bring to a boil.
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4.

Add cornmeal to boiling water and stir. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes. After 10 minutes uncover and beat vigorously (like beating eggs) for a few seconds and cover for remaining 5 minutes. Turn off flame and serve hot with sliced avocados. Enjoy!
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