AI-generated image
Atol de elote
Warm fresh corn drink
Warm, thick fresh-corn drink with milk, cinnamon and sugar, from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras
When the new maize comes in, Central Americans drink their corn: atol de elote is fresh sweetcorn blended, strained and cooked with milk and cinnamon into a thick, pale-yellow drink, sipped from a cup or a gourd. In El Salvador it's sold at roadside stands with tamales de elote; in Guatemala it warms chilly highland evenings. Taste is like sweet corn custard you can drink. Chef's tip: strain the blended corn through a fine sieve and press hard; the skins make the drink gritty.
- Total time
- 35 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 1 ⅛ lb fresh sweetcorn kernelsfrom about 4 cobs, or frozen
- 2 cups water
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 ½ oz sugarto taste
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch ground cinnamon (optional)to finish
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (2)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Blend 1 ⅛ lb fresh sweetcorn kernels with 2 cups water until very smooth, about 2 minutes.
2 minStep 2: Pour through a fine sieve into a pan, pressing hard on the pulp with a spoon. Discard what's left in the sieve.
Step 3: Add 2 cups whole milk, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 ½ oz sugar and 1 pinch salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over a medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
8 minStep 4: Keep stirring for 8–10 minutes as it thickens to the texture of thin custard and turns glossy. Common mistake: walking away; the corn starch catches on the bottom within a minute and the drink tastes scorched.
10 minStep 5: Remove the cinnamon stick and serve hot in cups, dusted with 1 pinch ground cinnamon.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 230 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 40 g
- Fat
- 6 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does atol de elote take?
- About 35 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of whole milk?
- Semi-skimmed milk with 1 tbsp cream per 240ml (1 cup).
- What can I use instead of cinnamon stick?
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon per stick.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Power packApple, pear, kiwi and celery juice
A sweet, energising juice of apples, pears and kiwi fruit with a stick of celery, all used unpeeled for extra goodness. It's naturally sweet, so it needs no sugar. Serve well chilled.
Guava delightGuava, mango and banana drink
A thick, fragrant blend of ripe guava, mango and banana, boosted with a spoonful of guava powder from the health shop. The book calls it a modern-day vitality drink, drawing on guava's long use in traditional Indian medicine. Serve it well chilled; sieve it if you don't like the little guava seeds.
PingadoHot milk with coffee
Order 'um pingado' at the balcão of any São Paulo padaria at 7 in the morning and the attendant pours hot milk into a ridged glass tumbler (the copo americano) and 'drips' in a splash of strong coffee, hence the name. It is milkier and gentler than a média (half coffee, half milk), creamy and lightly sweet, usually drunk standing up with a pão na chapa, a toasted buttered roll. At home you need strong filter coffee and milk heated until steaming. Scalding the milk is the frequent mistake, as boiled milk tastes flat and forms a skin. Chef's tip: froth the hot milk for a few seconds with a whisk or by pouring it back and forth between two jugs before adding the coffee, as padaria machines do.
Brazilian