Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Atole de Maís

This cold January weather makes me think of the creamy atole de maís my mother used to make.  The last time she made it for me was a few years ago when she visited me in the fall and we shared a bowl one cold afternoon for la merienda.


Some people put vanilla in theirs; in my family it's just the corn masa, sugar, cinnamon, and milk.  For the corn masa, you can use Maseca, a corn meal used to make tortillas. Our mother usually served us this atole for breakfast.


Floria's Atole de Maís

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of Maseca corn meal
3 tablespoons sugar
2 cups milk warmed in a 1 quart pot
2 large cinnamon sticks broken up
2 vanilla pods


Preparation:
Place one cup of milk in a pot and warm over medium-low heat on the stove.  Gradually whip 1 cup of milk with a small whisk in to a bowl containing the masa.  When the corn meal and milk mixture in the cup is smooth, slowly add it to the milk on the stove. Continue to heat the atole in the pot,  adding the sugar and broken up cinnamon sticks. You may also add the vanilla.  Cook until the mixture begins to thicken. Some like it watery, others like it thicker. Stop cooking it when it's got the consistency you like.

Pour it into a bowl and eat it while warm.

6 comments:

  1. Yumm... That sounds like wonderful comfort food. I can't wait to try this! I'll let you know how it goes... Love you!

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  2. Gilda Valdez CarbonaroFebruary 13, 2011 at 6:47 AM

    Thank you, Kris. You know you can store what you don't eat in the refrigerator and later warm it on the stove by adding more milk to thin it down, since it thickens when it's refrigerated.

    Let me know how it comes out.

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  3. Where can I find vanilla pod? I been looking for vanilla beans. I heard it can be pricy! Can I use the vanilla extract instead?

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  4. Gilda Valdez CarbonaroFebruary 15, 2012 at 9:46 AM

    Gladys, you know you can always use vanilla extract in place of the pods. You're right, vanilla pods can be expensive, but I always have a lot Mexican vanilla pods on hand and feel like I have to use them quickly.

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  5. Have been looking for this recipe for a long time..my Abuelita used to make this for us when we were little, but no one ever learned how to actually make it....so many many thanks for this, but I have one question though, Abuelita made it with chocolate, she would grind up the my abuelitas chocolate squares and put in Atole, but at what point would I do that???

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  6. Gilda Valdez CarbonaroMarch 14, 2014 at 6:26 AM

    Rosaelia,

    I would put the ground up chocolate at the beginning when you are just putting the milk to boil. Just keep stirring with a whisk so the chocolate doesn't turn into little balls that are difficult to dissolve. When it's prepared like this, it's called 'champurrado'.

    Gilda

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