Canjica (mungunzá)
Hominy and coconut milk pudding
Canjica or mungunzá: white hominy cooked slowly in milk with coconut, peanuts and cinnamon
Big white corn kernels simmered until tender, then cooked again in milk with coconut and peanuts: canjica is the warming bowl that every festa junina from Porto Alegre to Belém hands out in plastic cups on cold June nights. In the Northeast it goes by mungunzá, and in Bahia and Pernambuco it is often made richer with coconut milk. The kernels stay chewy and whole, the broth turns creamy and smells of cinnamon and clove, and the crushed peanuts add a nutty bite. Look for white hominy sold as canjica or milho para canjica in Brazilian shops; dried white pozole corn works too. It needs overnight soaking, which is not counted in the times. The common mistake is rushing the first boil: if the kernels are not fully soft before the milk goes in, they will never soften afterwards. Chef's tip: a pressure cooker cuts the first cook to 35 minutes and leaves the kernels perfectly tender.
- Total time
- 115 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For cooking the corn
- 1 ⅛ lb dried white hominy (canjica)soaked overnight in plenty of cold water
- 10 ½ cups water
For the cream
- 4 ¼ cups whole milk
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- ¾ cup coconut milk
- 2 ⅞ oz sugar
- 4 oz roasted unsalted peanutsskinned and roughly crushed
To serve
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (2)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Drain 1 ⅛ lb dried white hominy (canjica), rinse it and put it in a large pan with 10 ½ cups water, 1 cinnamon stick and 4 whole cloves.
Step 2: Bring to the boil, then simmer with the lid half on for about 1 hour 15 minutes, until the kernels are soft all the way through and some have split open. Top up with boiling water if they peek out. (Pressure cooker: 35 minutes at pressure.)
75 minStep 3: Check the water: you want the corn just covered. Pour off any excess so the finished canjica is creamy, not watery.
Step 4: Add 4 ¼ cups whole milk, 14 oz sweetened condensed milk, ¾ cup coconut milk and 2 ⅞ oz sugar. Bring back to a gentle simmer over a medium-low heat, stirring often so the milk does not catch.
10 minStep 5: Stir in 4 oz roasted unsalted peanuts and 1 ¾ oz grated fresh or desiccated coconut and simmer for 20 minutes more, stirring, until the liquid thickens and turns creamy.
20 minStep 6: Fish out the cinnamon stick and cloves. Serve hot or warm in cups, dusted with 1 tsp ground cinnamon if you like; it thickens as it cools, so loosen leftovers with a splash of milk.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 520 kcal
- Protein
- 15 g
- Carbs
- 78 g
- Fat
- 17 g
- Fibre
- 5 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does canjica (mungunzá) take?
- About 115 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 105 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of cinnamon stick?
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon per stick.
- What can I use instead of whole cloves?
- Ground cloves, ¼ tsp for every 3 whole cloves.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Kartoshka cakeCocoa and cake crumb truffles
Soviet cafés and school canteens sold these knobbly brown 'potatoes' for a few kopecks, and they began as a thrifty way to use up sponge and biscuit trimmings at the bakery. Crumbs are bound with butter and sweetened condensed milk, flavoured with cocoa and vanilla, shaped into little potatoes, rolled in cocoa and finished with two dabs of pale butter cream for the sprouts. They are fudgy and dense like a brownie truffle, need no oven, and children love making them. Traditional bakers added a spoonful of rum, an optional extra for adult batches only; this version is alcohol-free with vanilla. The usual slip is coarse crumbs, which make the potatoes crack, so blitz them as fine as sand. Chef's tip: chill the shaped potatoes for at least 20 minutes so they hold their shape and slice cleanly.
Russian
Undu walaluFried urad dal rings in treacle
Walalu means bangles, and these dark, sticky rings of fried urad dal soaked in kithul treacle are a sweet that Sinhala families bring out for Avurudu and for special almsgivings, often made in large batches by an aunt known for her steady hand. A thick, fluffy paste of ground black gram is piped into loops and fried until crisp, then plunged straight into warm treacle, so the rings stay crunchy on the outside while drinking up the syrup. They taste a little like a darker, smokier jalebi, with a toffee finish from the palm treacle. Watery batter is what ruins them; it spreads into flat blobs, so grind the soaked dal with as little water as possible and beat it until light. This recipe uses no asafoetida, so it is naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: pipe the rings onto small squares of baking paper and lower them into the oil paper and all; the paper peels away in seconds.
Sri Lankan
Baklava
The famous layered pastry: crisp sheets of buttered fillo sandwich a filling of almonds, pistachios and cashews spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and saffron. After baking, the hot baklava is soaked in a syrup of sugar, honey, lemon, rose and cardamom and decorated with almond and pistachio flakes. Cut into 40 diamonds; serve with fresh cream or ice cream.