Breakfast in the Bolivian Highlands: Api and Pastel For All

When dawn breaks over the Andean Mountains with a blue sky, the air is crisp and chilly and the sun needs time to rise above the peaks before it can heat up the day. How do you warm yourself up on Bolivia’s altiplano, so early in the morning?

You get dressed, leave your home, and briskly head for the market, a nearby food stall, or a bus station to treat yourself to a breakfast of api with pastel, the traditional breakfast of the Bolivian highlands.

You slide onto one of the wooden benches alongside one of the trestle tables, moving over to make space for more hungry diners. The order is simple: how many pastelitos do you want and would you like un api morado, un api blanco, or una mezcla? [pagebreak]

Api

Api is Bolivia’s typical corn drink, thick and filling like a smoothie, enhanced with sugar and spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. You’ll find two versions.

The white api, api blanco, is made from white corn (a type of maize called morocho), which is soaked overnight to soften the kernels. The next morning the corn is strained and the kernels are mashed in a pot until they break open. Milk and cinnamon are added and the liquid is boiled until the corn is quite soft and the liquid thick but still drinkable (so as not to have to eat it with a spoon). Sugar is added and then the mixture is strained once more to remove the corn.

Api morado, the pink/purplish version, is made from purple corn (maíz morado). The kernels are soaked for two hours in water while in a different pan water is boiled with cinnamon and cloves. The kernels are strained and the liquid is stirred into the flavored water until the right thickness is obtained, after which sugar is added.

The white api has a much blander taste than the purple one. You can also order a mixture of the two, una mezcla. To warm yourself, drink the api piping hot. [pagebreak]

Pastel

Pastel is the perfect accompaniment to this drink. The sweet, deep-fried snacks are filled with cheese (pastel de queso), but also with beef or chicken. Never mind the grease, just savor the taste of the crispy outside and the soft gooey inside while it’s still hot.

While pastel con api is one of Bolivia’s quintessential breakfasts in the highlands of the country, you may find the drink and snack sold separately during the day or early evening as well. A favorite place to drink api was in Uyuni, near the world’s largest salt flats, where across from the touristy area is a pedestrian area where local people gather in the late afternoon to enjoy salteñas and drink api. Give it a try!