Mămăligă cu brânză și smântână lifts plain cornmeal mămăligă with layers of sheep's cheese and sour cream — the iconic Moldovan-Romanian breakfast or lunch. Once peasant food, the polenta-and-cheese pairing is now comfort itself.
Cut into mămăligă cu brânză — golden top, layered alternating cornmeal-and-cheese, sour cream pooled, fried egg yolk on top. Bite: dense corn-sweet polenta, sharp brânză cheese, sour cream's cool tang, runny egg yolk binding everything. Comfort eaten on cold Moldovan mornings.
Layering creates flavor distribution. Baking sets the structure and melts the cheese. Egg yolk acts as a sauce when broken.
Variations
With added bacon. With smoked sausage. With added herbs. Smaller individual servings. With added vegetables. Without egg.
On the Palate
Where Mămăligă cu Brânză sits in the Moldovan flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
9 steps · 30 min active + 15 min waiting
- 117 min
Make mămăligă: bring 1 L water + 1 tsp salt to boil; whisk in 350 g fine cornmeal; stir constantly 15 min until thick.
Watch outStir the cornmeal constantly for the full 15 min — it goes from thin to spoon-standing thick and scorches the instant you pause.
- 23 min
Preheat oven to 200°C.
- 31 min
Butter a baking dish.
- 44 min
Spread 1/3 mămăligă in dish; top with 1/3 of 400 g crumbled brânză + 1/3 of 200 ml sour cream.
Watch outBuild even layers of polenta, cheese, then cream so every forkful gets all three.
- 54 min
Repeat layers 2 more times.
- 61 min
Top with 50 g grated cheese (optional).
- 716 min
Bake 15 min until top is golden.
Watch outPull it when the top turns golden and the cheese underneath is bubbling.
- 86 min
Meanwhile fry 4 eggs.
Watch outFry the eggs soft — the runny yolk is the sauce, so keep the whites set but the yolk loose.
- 91 min
Serve immediately with a fried egg on top of each portion.
