Pelamushi

Ingredients

• 6⅓ cupsgrape juicepreferably light, sweet must; reduced by half or ready-made badagi
• 12⅓ ozwheat floursifted
• 3½ ozcorn flourreplaces part of the wheat flour (optional)
• 3½ ozwalnutshalves pressed in or coarsely chopped for sprinkling
• 2 tbspsugaronly if the must is not sweet enough (optional)

Method

1. Bring the grape must to a boil in a wide pot, skimming off the foam as it rises.
2. Keep reducing the must until it has roughly halved and smells distinctly of badagi, then pour it through a sieve.
3. Set aside about a third to half of the must to stay cold, and heat the rest in a heavy pot.
4. Sift the wheat flour — or the wheat and corn flour together — and work in the cold must in a thin stream, stirring constantly, until you have a completely smooth, lump-free slurry; blend it briefly or pass it through a sieve if needed.
5. Pour the slurry slowly into the hot must, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon.
6. Cook over low heat, stirring without stopping, for 10 to 20 minutes, until the mixture is thick and glossy, no longer tastes of raw flour and pulls away from the side of the pot; if the must is not very sweet, stir in the sugar towards the end.
7. Quickly pour the hot mixture into bowls, onto plates or into small moulds and smooth the surface, then press the walnut halves into the still-warm top or scatter over the chopped nuts.
8. Let the pelamushi set for several hours at room temperature, then chill it and serve either cold or at room temperature.

Tips and variations

Instead of wheat flour alone, you can swap part of it for fine corn flour, which gives the mixture a slightly grainier bite. You have a choice with the heat, too: let it come up to a hard boil once and then drop to a bare simmer, or deliberately never let it boil and just keep it below a simmer. The walnuts can go in as halves pressed into the warm surface, or be chopped and scattered over once it has cooled. Poured into moulds, pelamushi can be turned out like a jelly after setting; while still warm, it is also the classic dipping mass for churchkhela and a lovely filling for choux pastry eclairs (water, milk, butter, flour, eggs; baked 20 minutes at 180 °C, then finished at 160 °C). Serve it in small bowls with coffee, or as a light finish to an autumn meal.