Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Champurrado (Mexican Cinnamon Chocolate Drink)

Champurrado is a rich Mexican drink thickened with "masa" flavored with cinnamon, vanilla, and chocolate.

It is most enjoyed in winter with bread usually "Bolillo" or other baked goods. It is delicous with sweet corn tamales or other sweet varieties of tamales some are pineapple or strawberry flavored.

This is my mothers recipe taught to her by her aunt and mother and so on. My mom is well known among her friends for making really good "Champurrado"

Ingredients:
-2 Cups "Masa" dough (bought from a Mexican store that produces fresh corn masa which is made from ground corn treated with water and lime aka calcium carbonate to release it's nutrition)
-5 cups milk
-1 can of Evaporated milk
-10 cups water
-8-10 small cinnamon sticks
-2 tablets of Mexican chocolate (chocolate abuelita or Ibarra)
-2 cups of sugar or sugar to taste.
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract (the real stuff)

Directions:
(1) In a pot on high heat bring water to a boil with cinnamon sticks until it becomes redish, fragrant and infused. To make it become a deep color when it comes to a boil and turns darker shock it with a water to stop boiling when it boils again it will be darker

(2)In another pot while you are doing step 1. Heat milk and evaporated milk on medium heat while step 1 is being completed. This is so the milk will be hot when you add it to the other pot later, if it is cold it will shock it and you will stir and wait forever.

(3)While step 1 & 2 is happening blend masa in a blender with some water until it is like a thick shake and set aside. When step 1 is complete add Blended masa and stir in one direction until thickened and masa is cooked about 10 minutes

(4)At this point add hot evaporated milk and milk mixture and stir, add 2 tablets of Mexican chocolate and sugar to taste.

(5)When chocolate tablets melt and vanilla extract. Stir well. Turn of heat and you are done ENJOY!

IMPORTANT NOTE: NEVER DIP A SPOON THAT HAS BEEN PUT IN YOUR MOUTH OR HAS SALIVA FOR REASONS UNKNOWN IT CUTS THE THICKNESS AND RICHNESS OF THE DRINK THIS IS NOT SUPERSTITION I DID ONCE AND MY MOM GOT SO UPSET AND IT WASNT AS RICH.

5 comments:

Núria said...

Wow Chico! This is super detailed... love the step by step pictures! Is that saliva thing true? Here we say that a woman with her period can not make allioli because it gets spoiled.

I would highly recommend you, if you don't mind, that you try joining the Leftover Queen Blogroll. You'll meet wonderful people there and the monthly Joust is a lot of fun :D

Maangchi said...

yayee! I am going to try this out. Thanks, Nathan! You are such a talented cook and your explanation is very detailed.

Nathan said...

Thanks Maangchi I'm flattered :)

And also thanks Nuria I will join the Leftover Queen Blogroll, but I was reading the reqirements and I need to have a blog that is 1 month old so I will wait for the month to pass then sign up.

Anonymous said...

I tried this recipe step by step... and the taste wasn't bad, but I could taste the masa in the drink.... I have tasted Chapurrado before and it didn't taste like that... Should I only use maybe 1 cup or 1 1/2 of masa instead of 2?

Nathan said...

Anonymous,
The masa is to taste did it boil with the masa for a while it shoudnt have masa taste like raw masa? was it regular masa (you can't use the masa that is used for tamales because it has salt, lard, and is more grainy) There's two types of champurrado that I've had the one made with cornstarch and the one I have here with masa, the one you buy at most places is made from cornstarch so probably that explains the difference in taste. & yes feel free to add less or more masa according to your tastes. for my fam n friends 10 cup water, 5 cup milk and 1 can of evap. milk to a ratio of 2 cups masa is good, but if you want to do 1 1/2 cup or 1 cup that's ok too :) hope it works out for you :)