Api morado

Ingredients

• Purple corn — soaked overnight400 g
• Water2.5 l
• Cinnamon sticks3
• Cloves6
• Orange peel1
• Sugar200 g
• Lemon1
• Cheese for the pastel — to serve200 g

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Soak the purple corn in cold water overnight, keeping that water in the morning.

   10 min

2. 2

   Grind the corn with its water in a blender to an even purple liquid.

   12 min

3. 3

   Strain it through a fine sieve, pressing the pulp, and strain it a second time.

   15 min

4. 4

   Add the remaining water, the cinnamon, cloves and orange peel.

   5 min

5. 5

   Cook over medium heat for forty minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon, until it thickens.

   45 min

6. 6

   Add the sugar and lemon juice and cook five minutes more.

   7 min

7. 7

   Remove the spices and serve it hot in mugs, with a fried cheese pastry.

   6 min

About the dish

Purple corn is soaked overnight and ground with water. The colour and the flavour come from the kernels rather than any dye, and ordinary corn makes a different drink.

The liquid is strained twice before cooking. Corn grit settles and catches on the bottom, and after that the whole api tastes burnt.

It is drunk hot at breakfast with pastel, a fried cheese pastry. The pairing is so fixed that Bolivian markets sell them only together.

Worth knowing

• — Stir constantly. Corn starch settles and catches faster than any porridge.
• — Adjust the thickness with water at the end. Api should drink from a mug rather than be eaten with a spoon; too thick and it stops being a drink.
• — The white version, api blanco, is made from yellow corn, and in Bolivia the two are often poured into one mug in layers.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

280 kcal

Protein

4 g

Fat

2 g

Carbs

64 g

More from Bolivia

• Salteñas — Baked pastries whose filling stays liquid inside. The Bolivian mid-morning snack.
• Silpancho — A plate-sized breaded steak over rice and potatoes, topped with a fried egg and raw salsa.
• Pique macho — A mountain of chips with beef, sausage, egg and fiery locoto chillies.