Smočani kačamak (Fatty porridge) is a traditional Montenegrin recipe for a classic vegetarian porridge of boiled potato with wheat or maize flour that's finished with thick cream and crumbled cream cheese. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Montenegrin version of: Fatty porridge (Smočani kačamak).
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The name Smočani kačamak literally translates as 'Fatty Porridge' though this is a blend of mashed potatoes with flour finished with thick cream and salty cream cheese. The fat in the name is that released from the set cream and cream cheese when it hits the hot porridge mixture.
Ingredients:
1kg potatoes, peeled
200g wheat or maize flour
4 tbsp cream (actually skorup cream skimmed from the surface of milk)
100g cream cheese, crumbled
Method:
Bring a pan of salted water to a boil (it needs to be heavily salted). Quarter the potatoes then add to the pan, cooking for about 25 minutes, or until fully tender. Do not drain the potatoes.
Pour the flour into the pot, forming a mound in the centre. When you put the flour into the pan, form a hole in the middle of the mound with a tucanj or kačamaš (a specially designed big wooden stick with a flat and wide lower part used for mashing kačamak) and cook it for about 30 to 40 minutes in a medium-high heat.
When the grains and potatoes are fully cooked, pour the remaining water off, remove the pot from the heat and start mashing the mixture with a kačamaš taking the pot back to the heat from time to time until the potato becomes like a paste without any lumps. In another pot melt 3–4 tablespoons of skorup (cream skimmed from milk) and a crumbled block of cheese (do not melt these completely so that the lumps can be seen all the over kačamak), pour it over the hot kačamak and stir it in.
When the mixture is well stirred the kačamak is ready to be served.
The best thing to serve with it is kiselo mlijeko (yoghurt).
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