Soor (Somali maize porridge with butter and milk)

Name: Soor (Somali maize porridge with butter and milk)
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Somali
Ingredients: 300 g fine maize meal; 250 ml cold water; 900 ml water; 0.5 tsp salt; 60 g butter; 300 ml milk; 3 tbsp sugar

Soor: stiff maize porridge with a well of melted butter, milk and sugar, a Somaliland comfort food

Features:Vegetarian

Cuisine:

Somali

Herding families in Somaliland and the countryside around Hargeisa have long relied on soor, a thick porridge of maize meal stirred until it holds its shape on a plate. It is shaped into a mound, a well is pressed into the centre and filled with melted butter or ghee, then warm milk and a little sugar are poured round the edge; on other days the well is filled with a meat sauce instead. You eat it with your right hand or a spoon, scooping porridge through the butter. The result is mild, sweet and very filling. Lumps are the usual complaint, and they come from tipping the meal in all at once; mix part of it with cold water first, then rain the rest in while stirring. The usual mistake is adding the maize meal too fast, so it goes lumpy; whisk constantly as you pour. Chef's tip: cover the pan and let the porridge steam for 5 minutes at the end to cook out any raw taste.

Total time: 30 min
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 4

One step at a time, big text, timers, read-aloud. Your screen stays on.

Ingredients

Serves4

For the porridge

10 ½ oz fine maize mealwhite or yellow
1 cup cold water
3 ¾ cups water
½ tsp salt

To serve

2 ⅛ oz butteror ghee
1 ¼ cups milkwarmed
3 tbsp sugar

Shop this recipe on Amazon

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 done

Step 1: Whisk a third of the 10 ½ oz fine maize meal into the 1 cup cold water to a smooth paste.
Step 2: Bring the 3 ¾ cups water and ½ tsp salt to the boil in a heavy pan. Whisk in the paste and stir for 3 minutes until it thickens like custard.
3 min
Step 3: Lower the heat to medium and rain in the rest of the maize meal a handful at a time, stirring hard with a wooden spoon and pressing out any lumps against the side.
5 min
Step 4: Keep stirring and folding for 10–12 minutes, until the porridge is very thick, pulls away from the pan and holds its shape.
12 min
Step 5: Cover and leave on the lowest heat for 5 minutes. Meanwhile melt the 2 ⅛ oz butter.
5 min
Step 6: Turn the porridge out onto a wide plate, shape into a mound and press a deep well in the centre. Pour the butter into the well, pour the warm 1 ¼ cups milk round the edge and sprinkle with the 3 tbsp sugar. Eat at once.

Nutrition per serving

Calories: 470 kcal
Protein: 9 g
Carbs: 70 g
Fat: 17 g
Fibre: 4 g

Nutrition values are estimates.

Recipe by

KrazyBadal

All recipes by this chef →

Good to know

How long does soor (Somali maize porridge with butter and milk) take?: About 30 minutes in total: 5 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
How many people does it serve?: 4 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 butter?: The same weight of ghee or coconut oil (for frying and most baking).
What can I use instead of milk?: Oat, soy or almond milk, same amount (use unsweetened for savoury dishes).

Reviews

No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.

Rate this recipe

TashmijabiMashed potatoes with stretchy cheese

Potatoes grow well in the cold valleys of Svaneti, and tashmijabi is how families around Mestia turn them into a feast dish: they are mashed hot, then beaten with handfuls of young sulguni until the purée becomes glossy and stretches from the spoon in long strands. It is served with grilled meat, kubdari or simply with pickles and Svan salt. A common mistake is letting the potatoes cool before adding the cheese; they must be piping hot for the cheese to melt and stretch. Chef's tip: keep the pan on a low heat while you beat, and use a firm wooden spoon. Most sulguni uses animal rennet; choose a vegetarian one or use mozzarella.

35 min

Georgian Sides

by KrazyBadal 1 views

Jamaican callalooSteamed callaloo greens

In Jamaica, callaloo means the leaves and tender stems of a type of amaranth, sold in big bundles in every market from Coronation Market in Kingston to Santa Cruz in St Elizabeth. It's steamed down with onion, tomato, garlic and thyme into soft, savoury greens with a mild mineral sweetness, and eaten at breakfast with fried dumplings, boiled green bananas or hard dough bread, or as a side at dinner. Spinach or Swiss chard can stand in if you can't find callaloo. Chef's tip: peel the fibrous skin from the thicker stems with a small knife and slice the stems and leaves finely across, about 1 cm wide. That's how Jamaican cooks get callaloo that's tender all the way through rather than stringy.

20 min

Jamaican Sides

by KrazyBadal 1 views

Yorkshire puddings

In Yorkshire the pudding was once served first, on its own with gravy, to fill people up before the meat; today these puffed, crisp-edged cups sit beside the roast at Sunday lunch all over England. The batter is nothing but eggs, flour and milk, and the trick is in the heat: smoking-hot fat in the tin and a hot oven. Serve with onion gravy for a vegetarian roast. Chef's tip: rest the batter for at least 30 minutes, which helps the puddings rise tall and even.

35 min