Traditional Atole Amaranth Flour Recipe
(source: versagrain.com)
Ingredients (Thick Hot Drink, Serves 5-6)
· 1/2 cup Amaranth flour
· 5 cups milk or water, according to taste
· 1/4 cup piloncillo (Mexican sugar cones), chopped fine or grated (or dark brown sugar)
· 1 stick cinnamon (or 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
· 1 vanilla bean (split lengthwise) (or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract)
Directions
In a large saucepan, whisk the milk or water into the flour, little by little, until completely mixed and free of lumps.
Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it just begins to thicken.
Add piloncillo (or brown sugar) and cinnamon stick (or ground cinnamon).
Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into pan (or add vanilla extract). Stir frequently until sugar is dissolved, then bring to a boil, stirring constantly to keep it from becoming lumpy.
Remove the cinnamon stick. Serve hot in mugs.
Substitutions and Additions
To turn this Amaranth recipe into a chocolate confection, do the following:
After removing from the heat, stir in approximately 3 ounces of chopped, Mexican chocolate (or any chocolate you desire). Stir until everything is well blended and the chocolate has melted. Then whisk until frothy. YUM!
So, in an effort to tame my loathsome gut, I've been
switching up my diet some. Been eating lots of eggplant, learned how to make
kale-chips, and I picked up a bag of Amaranth flour. I'm sure some of you know
quite a bit about Amaranth, but I didn't, I just wanted to try it out. My
attempts at making pasta were.... questionable, but it made good
eggplant-breading!
Now onto the next recipe down the list: Atole.
The instructions and ingredients are dead simple, and it
took about fifteen minutes from start to serving. The texture turned from
grainy to pleasantly creamy as soon as I brought the mixture to a boil and, as
pictured, the resulting drink looks frothy and thick.
Now, onto the flavour.
....Do you like Amaranth?
I mean, it's good, but it has a very aggressive flavour.
One that I would describe as a cross between hazelnut and corn, with a touch of
grassiness. My sister rejected it outright, my mother describes it as
"weird", and I, after my initial reaction of what-the-heck-why-does-it-taste-like-corn-no-no-no
find it rather pleasant. Odd, but pleasant. The chocolate version sounds
interesting.
Overall, I would give it a try. Just don't make a full batch
of it unless you're already a fan of Amaranth flour.
