🟡 Preview — not yet kitchen-tested. Recipe version 1.1 (15 Oct 2026) · Draft formulation — uncooked · Kitchen tester: not yet assigned · Video: cultural background only (traditional recipe)

🌽 Inspired by банош · banosh (also spelled banush)

Soft, creamy cornmeal topped with browned mushrooms, garlic and chives. Banosh is a corn porridge associated with the Hutsul region of the Ukrainian Carpathians. Traditionally it is cooked slowly in sour cream or cream with milk and butter, and served with toppings such as bryndza (sheep’s cheese) or cottage cheese, cracklings or a fried onion topping, and mushrooms.

Kitchen Monk interpretation inspired by Hutsul banosh. 🔄 What we changed, and why we say “inspired”: unsweetened soy milk and water replace sour cream, milk and butter; there is no cheese, cracklings, salt or oil; mushrooms are the main topping. That changes the dish’s richness and character, so we don’t call this banosh itself.

🍽️ Serves 4 (yield to be measured in testing) · ⏱️ Prep 10 min · Cook 25–30 min · Total about 40 min
🍳 Equipment: heavy-bottomed saucepan (about 3 litres), whisk, wooden spoon, frying pan

🧺 Ingredients

• 1 cup (150 g) medium-grind whole-grain cornmeal (polenta-style; not instant)
• 3 cups water, plus hot water as needed
• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk with no added salt, sugar or oil (check the label)
• 300 g mushrooms, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
• Black pepper, to taste

🌽 Which cornmeal? Medium grind is the target. Fine cornmeal thickens in 10–15 minutes and can turn pasty; coarse grind can take 40–45 minutes and needs extra liquid; instant polenta follows its package and gives a softer result. Record the product you used when testing.

👩‍🍳 Steps

1. Bring the water and soy milk to a gentle simmer in the saucepan over medium heat; soy milk scorches easily, so don’t let it boil hard.
2. Pour in the cornmeal in a thin stream, whisking constantly so no lumps form.
3. Turn the heat to low. Cook 20–30 minutes, stirring with the wooden spoon every few minutes and scraping the bottom, until thick and the grains taste soft rather than gritty. Add hot water a few tablespoons at a time if it gets too stiff to stir.
4. Meanwhile, put the mushrooms in the frying pan over medium heat with 2–3 tbsp water. Cook 10–12 minutes, adding water by the spoonful when dry, until their liquid has evaporated and they are browned. Add the garlic for the last minute.
5. Spoon the cornmeal into bowls and top with the mushrooms, chives and pepper.

👀 Doneness: it should be thick, creamy and spoonable, and pull away slightly from the sides of the pan.

💡 Troubleshooting: lumpy? Whisk hard off the heat. Gritty? Cook longer with a little more water. Scorched on the bottom? Lower the heat and don’t scrape the burnt layer into the porridge.

⚠️ Allergens: contains soy. Cornmeal is naturally gluten-free but may be processed alongside wheat; this recipe makes no gluten-free claim.

🔁 Substitutions: none tested yet. Untested soy-free idea: use 4 cups water and stir in ½ cup blended cooked white beans at the end.

🧊 Storing: it firms as it cools. Refrigerate in a covered container and use within 3–4 days. Reheat with a splash of water, stirring, until steaming. Freezing has not been tested.

🎥 Video

No suitable cook-along has been found. For cultural background, Ukrainian TV programme Сніданок з 1+1 shows a traditional Hutsul banosh made with sour cream, bryndza and cracklings. It is not our recipe and is offered only to show how the traditional dish is prepared.

🛒 Shopping checklist

• ☐ Medium-grind whole-grain cornmeal: 150 g (about 1 cup)
• ☐ Unsweetened soy milk, no added salt, sugar or oil: 1 cup
• ☐ Mushrooms: 300 g (about 10 oz)
• ☐ Garlic: 2 cloves
• ☐ Fresh chives: 1 small bunch
• ☐ Black pepper (check your pantry)

🖨️ To print: use your browser’s Print command (on a phone, tap Share or ⋮, then Print).

📚 Cultural context: NV, “A recipe for traditional banosh” (2 March 2023, recipe by culinary expert Eduard Nasyrov) and Ukraine.ua. These sources did not create or review this formulation. 🌱 Kitchen Monk Standard: no added salt, oil or refined sugar. Part of The Ukrainian Flourishing Table™ · kitchenmonk.org · Corrections welcome: rfjeep@gmail.com · Last reviewed 15 Oct 2026.