Bolivian recipe
How to make Api
Api morado
The Andean highlands, above all La Paz, Oruro, Potosí and Cochabamba
A thick, warm drink made from purple corn, sweetened and spiced with cinnamon and cloves. In Bolivia it is often served with buñuelos, fried pastries with cane syrup, for breakfast.
Ingredients
- 100 g purple corn flour (harina de maíz morado), sold in Latin American shops
- 1.2 litres water
- 1 cinnamon stick and 4 cloves
- Peel of half an orange (optional)
- 80 to 100 g sugar, to taste
Method
- Mix the corn flour with 300 ml of cold water until there are no lumps.
- Bring the rest of the water to the boil with the cinnamon, cloves and orange peel and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Pour in the corn mixture, stirring all the time, and cook on a low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until thick and smooth.
- Stir in the sugar, remove the spices and serve hot in cups.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
The drink is pre-Columbian, and its name is the Quechua word for a kind of porridge. Its smell fills the bus stations at dawn during the Oruro Carnival.
Take the trip to Bolivia
