The Other Side of the Tortilla

cinnamon sticks

Ponche de Tamarindo

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The holidays are coming and the weather’s getting cooler, which means I’m already starting my countdown to Christmas and las posadas Navideñas in Mexico.

A few weekends ago, I attended the Kenmore blogger summit here in Chicago where I participated in a day of cooking challenges with some old and new food blogger friends. You can check out my team’s recipes at cookmore.com (but a heads up that they’re not Mexican recipes). My favorite team challenge was one where we had to create a beverage using a slow cooker. Naturally, I suggested we make a spinoff of my warm winter margarita recipe, but with a few modifications since tequila wasn’t an ingredient option.

Our creation was a spiced brandy apple cider that wowed the judges and won us the competition; my guess as to why the recipe was such a success is probably because it had more than a little piquete of brandy, wink wink. I’ve been tinkering with some new holiday recipes recently, and the challenge inspired me to adapt a ponche de tamarindo recipe with brandy that I’ve been working on for the slow cooker.

The punch has two tart elements: whole tamarind pods and flor de jamaica (hibiscus flowers), which are mellowed by the sweetness of the guava and piloncillo. The cinnamon and brandy give a woody depth, and overall, it’s a satisfying drink to warm you up on a cold night. And of course, it’d be perfect to serve for your posadas….

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SALSA DE ARÁNDANOS

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As a little girl, I never liked whole cranberries and on Thanksgiving I always preferred the canned jellied cranberry sauce over the fresh cranberries my mom or my aunt made. Now that I’m a bit older and my palate is a little more refined, I prefer to make fresh cranberry sauce for my Thanksgiving dinner. In fact, it’s probably my favorite part! I’ve been known to make tortas de pavo topped with arándanos the whole week after Thanksgiving just to have an excuse to keep eating them.

This recipe has been passed on through two generations in my family, and now I’d like to share it with you. If you’ve ever been afraid that making cranberry sauce from scratch would be too difficult, you’re in good company. This recipe, though, is so easy that you won’t believe you didn’t try making your own with fresh, whole cranberries sooner. From start to finish, it takes about 15 minutes and it’s a perfect balance of spicy and sweet. These are great for Thanksgiving or La Navidad, too….

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CHAMPURRADO

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Champurrado is Mexico’s answer to hot chocolate. There’s this place in Mexico City where my suegro loves to eat. It’s a little family-owned restaurant called Merendero Las Lupitas, and he’s friends with the owner.

Las Lupitas is situated on a corner in Coyoacán facing the Plaza Santa Caterina, in a two-story white building with these beautiful, dramatic thick cobalt blue accents around the windows. They have a heavy, rustic wooden door, and inside there’s colorful papel picado strung across the ceiling. Lots of local art adorns the walls.

How to make Mexican champurrado from scratch with fresh masa from a tortillería. Recipe via theothersideofthetortilla.com.

What I love about this place is that it’s so traditional. The menu is pretty basic and the atmosphere emits a feeling like you’re eating in a relative’s home. Even the placemats, dishes and furniture are very modest. But don’t be fooled by all the simplicity–each dish on the menu packs as much satisfaction as that of a fancy restaurant, minus the attitude and the cost.

Among the number of delicious, traditional items on the menu there, my suegro almost always orders a mug of atole at the end of his meal.

masa

Atole is a hot drink, made with a nixtamal (corn) base from dissolving masa in water, sometimes with piloncillo, and heating until it becomes thick. It’s a stick-to-your-ribs type drink that’s guaranteed to keep you warm. It can come in many flavors; vanilla, chocolate and strawberry are most typical.

RELATED RECIPE: Atole de fresa

You can usually find quickie versions in a powdered packet in the grocery store, and they taste OK if you’re in a bind and can’t make the real deal. But the packets typically use powdered cornstarch as a thickening agent, so they lack the depth and flavor produced by using real masa as the drink’s base. The chocolate version is called atole de chocolate or champurrado.

The basic steps of this recipe–minus the chocolate–can be used as a base to make plain atole (sometimes also called atole de vainilla; just add a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract). It is also the base for atole de fresa.

RELATED RECIPE: Atole de vainilla

There are two different ways I make champurrado at my house: the easy way and the hard way. This recipe is for the easy way. The more difficult method (a recipe taught to me by a friend) involves actually roasting cacao beans and grinding them in with the masa to get a more earthen chocolatey flavor. We’ll save that for another day.

In the meantime, this recipe is plenty good, and reminds me of the down-to-earth style of Las Lupitas that our family has grown to love so much.

A note about my method for juicing the masa: I like to use thin-ply Gerber cloth diapers rather than cheesecloth because they strain more effectively and with much less mess. In addition, you can wash and reuse them because they’re much sturdier than cheesecloth.

 

RELATED RECIPE: Atole de calabaza

Chopped chocolate Abuelita for champurrado. Recipe via theothersideofthetortilla.com.
chocolate abuelita
How to dissolve masa in water to make atole. Recipe for champurrado from theothersideofthetortilla.com.
How to dissolve masa in water to make atole.

 

How to juice masa for atole. Recipe for champurrado via theothersideofthetortilla.com.
How to juice masa for atole.
Print

Champurrado

Prep

Cook

Total

Yield 6 servings

How to make the classic Mexican chocolate atole known as champurrado.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound prepared masa* see note below
  • 6 cups water
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups milk
  • 1 disc Mexican chocolate, chopped (Abuelita, Ibarra, or other brand)
  • 3-4 small cones of piloncillo (about 1 ounce each, or one large cone weighing 3-4 ounces and chopped into small pieces)
  • 3-4 small cinnamon sticks
  • 1-2 tablespoons granulated cane sugar such as Zulka morena (if desired, to make it sweeter)

TOOLS

  • Either cheesecloth or a very thin-ply cloth diaper to strain the dissolved masa
  • A molinillo or a wooden spoon

Instructions

  1. Measure out 6 cups of warm water into a large bowl. Submerge the masa and using your hands, dissolve the masa in the water until the water is cloudy and the dough is completely incorporated.
  2. Over another large bowl, preferably deeper rather than wider, lay the cheesecloth or diaper cloth across the top of the bowl. I know you must be thinking I’m kidding about a diaper cloth–a friend taught me about this trick & I’ve never used cheesecloth since. The diaper cloth is a much cleaner method and I personally prefer it because you can wash them out and reuse them; the cheesecloth doesn’t strain as finely, makes more of a squirting mess and shouldn’t be reused. The diaper cloths I like come in a 12-pack from Gerber. Again, I know it sounds weird and at first, I was skeptical when a friend shared this method with me, but trust me, it causes minimal mess compared to the cheesecloth.
  3. While holding the cloth in place, pour about one-third of the dissolved masa water into the cloth. Bring the ends of the cloth together to close it at the top and gently massage the bottom of the cloth to strain the water through. Be careful not to squeeze too hard because the water will squirt. Repeat until you’ve poured all the masa water through the cloth.
  4. Once you’ve massaged the cloth so there’s no more water but still some clumps of masa, squeeze the cloth well to get any remaining water out. Discard the remaining masa from inside the cloth and pour the water into a deep pot.
  5. Place the pot over a medium flame and add the piloncillo (you can chop or grate the piloncillo before adding if you like), stirring with the molinillo or wooden spoon until it dissolves.
  6. Add the cinnamon once the piloncillo is incorporated.
  7. Constantly stir the water; as it heats, it will start to thicken. If you don’t stir enough, depending on the masa you used, it can start to get clumpy–which you don’t want. You will know the atole is thick enough to add the chocolate when the liquid leaves a coating on the back of your wooden spoon.
  8. Add the chopped chocolate and stir well with your spoon or molinillo.
  9. Add the milk, stirring constantly. If desired, add a little raw cane sugar to sweeten.
  10. Remove from heat and let cool slightly; ladle into mugs.

Notes

*Either pre-made masa purchased from a tortilleria or homemade will work; if making at home using a masa harina product like Maseca, prepare to directions on packaging before proceeding. If you buy masa harina for home use, be sure you buy the one for making tortillas–not the one for making tamales. If you’re really ambitious, you can grind your own nixtamal to make masa. I typically buy mine straight from the tortilleria.