AI-generated image
Chicheme
Chicheme: Panama's cold cracked-corn drink with cinnamon and vanilla
Chicheme comes from La Chorrera, just west of Panama City, where it is sold by the glass at the town's fairs alongside bollos and chorizo, and it is now drunk all over the country on hot afternoons. Cracked white corn is cooked until soft and swollen, then mixed with sweetened milk, cinnamon and vanilla and served very cold, so every sip has chewy grains in it. Undercooked corn is the classic mistake; the kernels must be soft right through or the drink feels gritty. Chef's tip: soak the corn overnight, and it cooks in under an hour instead of two.
- Total time
- 60 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- 7 oz cracked dried white corn (maíz pilado)soaked overnight
- 1.5 litres water
- 3 cloves
- 1 ¾ cups evaporated milk
- ¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamonto dust
Shop this recipe on Amazon
Fresh ingredients (2)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/4 doneStep 1: Drain 7 oz cracked dried white corn (maíz pilado) and simmer it with 1.5 litres water, 2 cinnamon sticks and 3 cloves, partly covered, stirring now and then, until the grains are soft and swollen and some have burst.
50 minStep 2: Remove the cinnamon and cloves and cool completely.
Step 3: Stir in 1 ¾ cups evaporated milk, ¾ cup sweetened condensed milk and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Add cold water if it is too thick to drink through a wide straw.
Step 4: Chill for at least 2 hours and serve over ice, dusted with ¼ tsp ground cinnamon. It keeps 3 days in the fridge.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 290 kcal
- Protein
- 8 g
- Carbs
- 48 g
- Fat
- 8 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does chicheme take?
- About 60 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 50 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 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.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of cinnamon sticks?
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon per stick.
- What can I use instead of cloves?
- Ground cloves, ¼ tsp for every 3 whole cloves.
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
Guava delight
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.
Power pack
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.
Horchata de chufa
Horchata de chufa is the drink of Valencia's summer, sold ice-cold in the city's horchaterías with long, soft fartons pastries for dipping. It is made from chufas, or tiger nuts: small wrinkled tubers grown around the village of Alboraya just north of Valencia, which have their own protected designation of origin. Soaked, ground with water, strained and sweetened, they give a creamy, nutty, naturally dairy-free milk with a hint of cinnamon. Valencians drink it very cold, or half-frozen as 'granizada'. Chef's tip: soak the tiger nuts for a full 24 hours and change the water once; they must be plump and soft enough to blend into a fine pulp, or the horchata will be thin and taste of raw starch.
Spanish