Kuymak

Ingredients

• 150 g butter
• 90 g fine cornmeal (mısır unu)
• 400 g fresh stretchy cheese such as Trabzon kolot, minci, or young mozzarella
• 300 ml hot water
• Salt, to taste
• Crusty bread, to serve

Before you cook

• Tear the cheese into small pieces and leave it out of the fridge for thirty minutes so it comes to room temperature.
• Measure the cornmeal into a small bowl.
• Measure 300 ml of water into a jug.

Steps

1. Bring the measured water to the boil in a kettle and keep it hot.
2. Melt the butter in a wide, heavy pan over a low heat until it stops foaming.
3. Tip in the cornmeal and stir it through the butter for four to five minutes, until it smells toasted and looks like wet sand.
4. Pour in the hot water in a steady stream, stirring hard the whole time to keep the mixture smooth.
5. Cook for three minutes, still stirring, until it thickens into a loose porridge.
6. Turn the heat down to its lowest setting and scatter in the cheese a handful at a time.
7. Stir slowly with a wooden spoon, always in the same direction, until the cheese melts and long strands lift with the spoon.
8. Taste and add salt only if the cheese needs it, then stop stirring the moment the strands form.
9. Serve straight from the pan, molten and stringy, with plenty of bread for scooping.