Semolina Kasha

Make it step by step

1. Rinse a heavy-based pan with cold water and tip it out, leaving the inside wet. The film of water slows the milk proteins catching and scorching on the base.
2. Pour in the milk and the 100ml of water. The water gives a looser porridge and makes the pan less prone to catching than milk alone.
3. Add the sugar and salt.
4. Bring to a bare simmer over medium-low heat, stirring now and then, until small bubbles break around the edge of the pan and no more than that.
5. Take a whisk in one hand and keep the liquid turning in a steady circle.
6. Rain the semolina in through the fingers of your other hand in a thin, continuous stream, taking 30-40 seconds over it.
7. This is the whole technique. Tip the semolina in as a spoonful and the outside of it gelatinises on contact, sealing dry grain inside, and that lump will not whisk out however long you work at it.
8. If you would rather not judge the stream, hold back the 100ml of water at the start instead, whisk the semolina into it cold, and stir that slurry into the simmering milk. Every grain is wetted before it meets heat.
9. Keep whisking for a minute after the last of the grain has gone in.
10. Simmer very gently for 5-7 minutes, switching to a spatula and working into the corners of the pan, until the porridge holds a brief trail behind the spoon before closing over.
11. Stop while it is looser than you want it. It will thicken again in the pan and again in the bowl.
12. Off the heat, stir in half the butter.
13. Cover and stand for 3 minutes.
14. Spoon into warm bowls and set the remaining butter on top to melt, which also stops a skin forming as it cools.
15. Serve with the jam, stirred through or left in a pool.