Easy purple Mazamorra recipe

The purple mazamorra is one of the most popular desserts in Peru. So much so, that today it is known practically all over the world. It is characterized by presenting a thick and smooth texture at the same time, a sweet flavor and an intense purple color.

In RecetasGratis we share the traditional purple porridge recipe and explain how to add more fruits to intensify the flavor of the dessert. Keep reading to discover with us how to prepare purple porridge, what is the history of purple porridge and what variants exist.

Ingredients to make easy purple Mazamorra:

 ½ kilogram of purple corn

 ½ ounce lemon juice

 1 cup of chuño flour or potato starch

 6 liters of water

 1 cup sugar (to taste)

 3 cinnamon sticks

 Clove

 Bark of a pineapple

At your service

 Cherries

 Raisins (optional)

 Cinnamon powder

How to make easy purple Mazamorra:

First, we prepare the chicha morada. To do this, we put the 6 liters of water in a pot and, when it boils, we add the purple corn, cinnamon, cloves to taste and the pineapple rind. Optionally, we can add some fruits, like a couple of apples. We will let it cook over low heat until the water is purple. This can take about 45 minutes.

When the water has turned an intense purple color, we remove 3 liters to make the purple porridge and pour them into another pot to also put it on the fire. The rest can be left in the pot, adding a little more water, to make a concentrated chicha that we can drink.

We add the sugar to the pot and stir so that it dissolves. Now, it is possible to add pieces of fruit, such as quince, apple or pineapple. In this case, it will be necessary to wait for it to boil again to pour in the lemon juice. If you don't add fruit, you can add the juice directly. Once incorporated, we let it boil for 8-10 minutes.

Besides, we dissolve the chuño flour in a little chicha. It can also be dissolved in water, but in this way the more concentrated purple porridge remains. Once dissolved, we add it to the pot little by little and without stopping moving.

Tip: The chuño flour can be substituted for potato starch or sweet potato flour.

We continue cooking until the purple porridge acquires the desired consistency. If we see that it is very liquid, we can always dissolve a little more of the chuño flour and add it to the pot. Just before serving, add the cherries and raisins.

We serve the purple porridge sprinkling cinnamon powder on top. This dessert is perfect for winter, although in Peru it is common to eat it throughout the year accompanied with rice pudding, a mixture known by the name of "classic".

Discover the Peruvian flipped cream if you want to try another typical dessert of this country.

If you liked the easy purple Mazamorra recipe, we suggest that you enter our category of Dessert Recipes with fruits. You can also visit a selection of the best Peruvian recipes.

Purple Mazamorra - History and calories

The origin of the purple porridge is linked to the food that was provided to the prisoners who occupied the dungeons. This food was none other than a pasta made from flour and water. However, many are those who assure that this mixture was already made by the Inca ancestors with cornstarch, being then a pre-Hispanic dessert. In any case, the name became established and popularized during the Spanish conquests, as the story goes that, when the Spanish tasted the mixture, they baptized it "mazamorra" because they did not like it.

Over the years, ingredients have been added to make the mazamorra one of the most traditional, popular and delicious desserts in Peru. Although we can taste it throughout the year, it is customary to eat purple porridge during the month of October on the occasion of the festival known as "Señor de los Milagros".

Calories in purple porridge

As for the number of calories, it is difficult to establish an exact figure since it all depends on the amount of sugar added and the fruits added. In general, a cup of mazamorra contains about 150 calories, however, we repeat, this figure can increase if we add more sugar or fruits.

On the other hand, now that you know how to prepare purple porridge, it is important to highlight its nutritional qualities. Purple corn is very rich in antioxidants due to its high content of anthocyanins, substances that also provide the purple color to the grain. Likewise, it is rich in carbohydrates, fiber, calcium, sodium, vitamin A and has important digestive properties. For all this, both chicha morada and mazamorra morada contain a high nutritional value. In fact, chicha, which does not include sugar, is a very diuretic drink and ideal to recharge your batteries and fight free radicals. This is so thanks to the benefits of purple corn but, also, to the properties of pineapple. You may be interested to read about the chayote benefits blogpost/ strawberry cheesecake slice recipe/ kiwi jam recipe/ Italian apple cake recipe/ mandarin marmalade recipe.

Other mazamorra recipes

Today there are many porridge recipes that we can find, the following being the most popular:

Cornstarch Mazamorra

Quinoa Mazamorra

Corn maize