** To Accomplish This Meal, Purchase our Jar of Fresh Herbs Blended in Olive oil. Madame Sara’s gourmet cooking sauce not only adds flavor to your food it also offers the healthiest option out there!
This dish is one appreciated dish among Haitians, but it is mostly popular among Haitians in rural Haiti. I had to make it for my blog because it really brings back many funny memories and it is one dish believed to carry superman-like powers and you will know why in a minute. :)
It is not my favorite but only when i make it i love it, because I add my own little twists which makes it unique and absolutely yummy!
My uncle Charly or Kel as we called him, loved Mayi Moulin. He had a very skinny frame and loved to joke around and tease old people (hahahaha) bless his soul. When he was living in Haiti, I was perhaps 5 or 6 as I remember so vividly. Kel would wake up bright early in the morning to go work out at a nearby gym up the hill. Our housekeeper/cook at the time, Marie-Claude, would also wake up very early to prepare Mayi Moulin ak fèy for him. (LOL) The thought of it now just makes me laugh out loud! A good work out or to feel strong during the day must consists of a nice dish of Mayi ak Fèy in the morning! :)
I would wake up with them because it was an event one did not wish to miss and also because even at that age I loved cooking. The mornings were usually beautiful and sunny. We would wake up to 75F and normally it would go up to 100F and plus during the day. The preparation in our kitchen for this dish was a work of art. I would carefully watch Marie-Claude cut tomatoes, chop fresh spinach in tiny pieces, and she would also cut onions and peppers to make her own blend of spices using a wooden mortar. (A mortar is a very common receptacle-like dish used to crush ingredients for cooking in Haiti.)
The aroma was piercing as it traveled throughout the house and to the yard! The dog would even come in sniffing around because it was that irresistible :) RIP Scooby.
By the time Kel would get himself ready for the gym, his dish of Mayi would be waiting for him on the table. That is one thing must I say I never understood. Why do Haitians, men in that case, always think that eating mayi is the best source of protein and iron before working out or before starting out their day?
It is believed, as I often hear my grandma say, that eating Mayi Moulin especially with Fèy (Spinach) would give you the strength of a thousand men. People who could afford it in the rural parts of the country or the peasants working on their plantations under the hot sun, would prefer a nice dish of Mayi Moulin ak Fèy to start off their day. For it is a dish that keeps them full long enough and provides them with right amount of energy. Mayi ak Fey in the morning is like a shot of energy straight from the gods.
See that is why i love my country. Our courage is found in what our soil offers us.
Cornmeal may have a great amount of protein and iron but it is the belief which they hold that makes it magnificent. My uncle every morning would make sure he eats a dish of cornmeal, though he did for a longtime until he moved to the United States when I turned 9, he still had a skinny frame. If anything changed about him, it was that he would more than ever tease old people! :) I sure do miss him! But courageous indeed he was.
Maybe we are a poor country but our soil is rich and fortifying! It is not just a myth it actually is true that this dish gives you the strength of a thousand men. Otherwise you think we’d still be here today? :)
I pray that Haiti finds its courage, its path so that our soil continues to feed our people so that their strength never dies whether they find it in Mayi or in other meals.
Here’s my version of Mayi ak Fey. Note that Mayi can be made many different ways but this is how i just like it. :)
What you will need:
1 cup of coarse corn meal (Buy the one from St-Marc, Haiti,it is good)
1 cup of finely chopped spinach or buy a bag of frozen spinach and use half
2 large diced tomatoes
1 Jar of Madame Sara (Medium-hot flavor preferably)
1/2 cup of Vegetable oil or Olive Oil
1 Maggi Cube and Little bit of Sea Salt
1 scotch bonnet pepper for flavor
Preparation:
1-Sauté the Madame Sara Spice blend in the oil with tomatoes and spinach until the tomatoes are completely dissolved and the spinach is cooked. While they are cooking add in a pinch of sea salt
2-Add 2 cups water and bring to a boil
3-Crush in your one maggi cube and throw in the scotch bonnet pepper to give flavor but do not crush it
4-Once the water comes to a complete boil, add 1 and half cup of your coarse cornmeal-Let it boil for about 5 minutes until it is starting to condense.
5- Stir it repeatedly and vigorously using a wooden spoon to avoid clumps and lumps in it.
6-Keep stirring without crushing the hot pepper and leave it on medium heat to cook
7- You can serve it with fresh avocado
Voila Bon Appetit,
Madame Sara
2 Réponses à Cuisine creole :The Dish that makes Haitians Strong/ Mayi Moulin Ak Fèy! (Haitian Cornmeal)