DARK GRAPE PELAMUSHI WITH CORN FLOUR
Pelamushi (Georgian: ფელამუში) is a favorite Georgian dessert made mainly with pressed, condensed grape juice (badagi) and flour or flour plus corn flour. In this recipe we show how to make dark grape pelamushi with flour plus corn flour. It has a different texture to pelamushi made solely with flour.
Ingredients: 1 liter of badagi, 140 grams of flour, 60 grams of fine corn flour and 2 tbs of sugar.
Preparation (badagi): Wash and remove stalks from the grapes. Mash the washed grapes in a colander positioned over a large bowl.
Keep mashing until only skins and seeds are left. Use your hands to remove as much juice as possible.
Transfer the juice into a large pot and bring to the boil on a medium heat. Then reduce the heat to a low temperature and allow to simmer for up to 3 hours. The juice should reduce by a little less than half. The process produces a sugar (fructose) content of around 60%.
Monitor the simmering process and remove the extraneous matter whenever it forms on the surface of the grape liquid.
After 3 hours of simmering, the juice should have reduced by a little less than half. Allow to stand overnight, then use a fine sieve to pour out the juice into a bowl.
The badagi should be clear, like the picture below.
Preparation (pelamushi): Add the flour, corn flour and sugar to a bowl. Gradually add up to 500 ml of Badagi and mix with a wooden spoon. Once the flour, corn flour, sugar and badagi have been mixed with a spoon, use an electric blender to ensure that the mixture is absolutely smooth.
Add 500 ml of badagi to a deep cast iron pot and gradually add the flour/corn flour/sugar/badagi mixture.
Stir thoroughly. It should look like the picture below.
Heat on a high temperature, vigorously stirring all of the time. Bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to a low temperature and continue to stir for 8-10 minutes. During that time it will thicken and you should test it to make sure that it does not taste of flour or corn flour.
The consistency of the mixture should look like the picture below.
Remove from the heat and immediately pour into serving dishes or a bowl. It can also be poured into jelly molds to create an attractive shape.
Allow to cool. After a maximum of 2 hours the pelamushi should be firm enough and cool enough to serve. It can be stored in a refrigerator for several days. When removed from the refrigerator the surface of the pelamushi may be speckled with fructose, like in the picture below – this is normal. We garnished ours with crushed walnuts or fried hazelnuts.
At Georgian supras (feasts), pelamushi is usually served upside down (smooth side up) from an upturned mold or bowl, like in the picture below.
Enjoy your dark grape pelamushi!
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Georgian Recipes 