How to make a delicious atol de maíz tostado (Toasted cornflour drink)

This is by far my favorite atol, it's closest to a creamy and hot horchata...? My mom would

only make this drink when a fried or family member would bring her the prepped flour mixture from El Salvador but she never made the flour mixture herself. So today we are making it from scratch, and let me tell you, it was a mission!

There are two parts to this recipe. First, prepare the flour by grinding the dried corn and second, making the hot drink with the flour. There was a few challenges I had to overcome while making this recipe. The first was to find the dried corn or as you may find it "Maiz seco." I was only able to find it at the Houston Farmers Market, which is historically know for selling produce from Mexico and other countries in Latin America. The second challenge was grinding the corn into a fine powder. Back home in El Salvador, there are public molinos or you tipically know of a neighbor that has one, and you pay a quarter or two for them to grind different grains. Here in Houston I don't think there is anything like this and since i don't own a grinder or grain processor, I used the next best thing... a blender. Oh, boy. I had to process and strain the mixture multiple times in order to get a powder like substance, but I got it done.

How to make atol de maíz tostado?

Making the flour

Ingredients: 4 cups of flour

• 2 lbs dried white corn

• 2 cinammon sticks

Instructions:

1. Wash and clean the corn - remove any pieces that may look too old or rotten. Drain the water and set it out to dry in a flat container

2. Once it's dry, place a sauce pan or frying pan on low to medium heat. Add the cinammon and corn, and toast until golden dark brown. Depending on the size of the pan, toast it in small batches. If you want the atol to have a darker color, let the corn toast to a dark brown. Once toasted place it in a container to cool off for about 10 minutes.

3. Once cooled add both the corn and cinammon stick to a blender or pulvirizer and process to the finest flour possible. I did it in my Ninja blender and it required a few runs to get it pulvirized. I also had to strain it to leave the big pieces that didn't process and then try it again. The two pounds gave me approximately 4 cups of flour.

Making the Atol

Once the flour is made, we are ready to make the atol de maiz tostado.

Ingredients: Serving for 3- 4 cups

• 1 cup of four

• 3-4 cups water: For a thicker consistency add 3 cups of water, for a more thin consistency add 4 cups of water.

• 1/2 cup of milk

• 1 cinnamon sticks

• 1/4 cup sugar or to taste

Instructions:

1. In a container add the cup of flour and the desired water. Mix well until fully incorporated.

2. Strain the mixture: First strain the mixture using a mesh strainer, then strain it a second time using a cheese cloth or bag.

3. Place a deep pot on medium heat and add the strained mixture, add a cinammon stick and let it come to a simmer. Mix continuously to keep it from sticking or burning at the bottom of the pot.

4. Add the milk and the sugar, and continously mix until it comes to a boil. If you see it thinken up too much you can add 1/2 a cup of water to thin it out a bit. Let it cool for 5 minutes and serve with some pan dulce.

This is best served hot and with a side of pan dulce (sweet bread) or pan frances (frech bread). I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much I enjoyed learning to make it. For more recipes remember to follow @FLOURISHWITHG on Intagram, TikTok and facebook!