Ingredients
Maize
- 500 gblack or purple maize flour
- or 500 g dried black maize, ground
- 1.5 litreswarm water, for the ferment
To cook
- 1.5 litreswater
- 1 teaspoonsalt
To serve
- cooked red or black beans, in their broth
- alguashte, toasted ground pumpkin seed
- chile sauce, or dried ground chilli
- salt, for the table
Traditionally served in
- a jicara, a dried gourd bowl
Directions
- Use clean bowls and clean utensils throughout. Keep the ferment covered with a cloth rather than sealed. Discard it if it grows pink, orange or black mould. Discard it if it smells of rot rather than of sourness. Do not taste anything that looks or smells wrong. Soak the kernels overnight and grind them with water. Strain that slurry and use the liquid and solids together.
- Put the maize flour into a large clean bowl. Add the warm water gradually while stirring. Work it into a smooth thick slurry with no lumps. It should be about the consistency of double cream.
- Cover the bowl with a clean cloth. Leave it somewhere warm and out of direct sun. Waiting for the ferment takes patience. Stir it once each day with a clean spoon. Bubbles should appear on the surface after a day or so. Stir that liquid back in every time. Give it three days in warm weather.
- Taste a very small amount to judge the sourness. It should be clearly tangy but not sharply acidic. Bring the fresh water to the boil in a heavy pot. Add the salt to the boiling water. Stir the fermented slurry thoroughly before using it.
- Pour it into the boiling water in a thin steady stream. Whisk hard the whole time you are pouring it in. Bring it back to a bare simmer. Turn the heat right down as low as it will go.
- Stir it continuously with a wooden spoon from here. Maize starch catches and scorches within seconds if left. Cook it for a full forty-five minutes. It should be thick and only just pourable. Add hot water if it becomes too stiff to stir. Taste it and adjust the salt again. Cook red or black beans until they are completely soft.
- Keep them in some of their cooking broth. Toast the seeds in a dry pan until they pop. Let them cool and grind them with a little salt. It is sold ready made in Salvadoran shops. Make a simple chile sauce or use ground dried chilli. Serving it is done hot in bowls or gourds.
- Ladle the hot atol into each bowl. Spoon beans with some of their broth over the top. Scatter alguashte generously over that. Add chile sauce and extra salt to taste. The cooked atol keeps two days refrigerated.
Technique
- Alguashte, toasted ground pumpkin seed, is a distinctively Salvadoran seasoning used on fruit and on savoury dishes as well as here.
- The fermentation is what separates atol shuco from other maize atoles and is the reason for its name.
Substitutions
- Blue cornmeal is a reasonable substitute where black maize flour cannot be found.
- Ready-made alguashte is sold in Salvadoran shops and saves toasting and grinding.
Variations
- Some vendors serve it with only alguashte and chilli and no beans.
- A version made with white maize is milder and paler.
- Atol de elote is the sweet fresh-corn drink sold at the same stalls.
History
Hot drink of fermented black maize served with beans and alguashte; the name means dirty atol and it is a Pipil-rooted evening street drink.
Frequently asked questions
What is Atol shuco?
Atol shuco is a drink from El Salvador: thick purple-corn atol with beans and pumpkin-seed alguashte. Hot drink of fermented black maize served with beans and alguashte; the name means dirty atol and it is a Pipil-rooted evening street drink.
How long does Atol shuco take to make?
Atol shuco takes 30 minutes plus several days fermenting of preparation and 1 hour of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Atol shuco?
Yes, within limits. Blue cornmeal is a reasonable substitute where black maize flour cannot be found. Ready-made alguashte is sold in Salvadoran shops and saves toasting and grinding.
What is the most important thing to get right in Atol shuco?
Use clean bowls and clean utensils throughout. Keep the ferment covered with a cloth rather than sealed. Discard it if it grows pink, orange or black mould. Discard it if it smells of rot rather than of sourness. Do not taste anything that looks or smells wrong. Soak the kernels overnight and grind them with water. Strain that slurry and use the liquid and solids together.
