Plain Corn Gruel

If you want to make homesick Mexican friends happy, serve them atole. Those from the north might make it with milk replacing part of the water, but that is not the Oaxacan way. Any sort of fruit or fruit preserves can be used to flavor the atole. Up north my mother used to stir in a little of the peach marmalade she put up every year. In Oaxaca they use their incredible range of tropical fruits (see Atole de Guayaba, for a sample suggestion).

Here is a simple basic for