Oats simmered in milk with cinnamon and clove, chilled for two hours and then blended smooth. It is a cold drink served in glasses, not a bowl of porridge.
Avena is a drink
The title on this page said oatmeal, and in English that means a hot bowl of porridge eaten with a spoon.
That is not what this recipe makes. The oats are simmered in milk and water for half an hour, chilled for two hours, and then blended smooth and poured into glasses. It is drunk cold.
In Colombia it is sold in plastic bags on the street, drunk at breakfast or in the middle of the afternoon, and everybody knows what avena means. The most common search that reaches this page is how do you make avena, which is exactly the right question and one the old title never answered.
Two hours, and why
The third step chills it for at least two hours before it goes anywhere near the blender, and it is easy to read that as being about temperature.
It is also about texture. Oats carry on absorbing liquid as they cool, and those two hours are when the drink develops its body. Blended straight off the stove it comes out thin, and then thickens in the fridge afterwards into something you did not plan for.
It will thicken further overnight, so if you make it the day before, keep some milk or water aside to loosen it.
Stir it constantly
The first instruction says constantly and means it. Oat flakes are heavier than milk and they settle, and fifteen minutes over medium heat with a layer of oats on the bottom of the pot is enough to scorch them.
The scorched taste does not stay at the bottom. It goes through the whole batch and there is no fixing it.
Cinnamon and clove
A cinnamon stick and a pinch of clove, added halfway with the sugar and the cream rather than at the start.
They are what make this taste Colombian rather than like plain oat milk, and fifteen minutes at a low simmer is enough for both. Whole cinnamon rather than ground, so it can be lifted out or simply blended in at the end.
More drinks
- Sopa de avena — oats in a savoury soup.
- Colombian coffee — with aguapanela.
- Colombian hot chocolate — the hot one.
- Oatmeal banana bread — oats in a loaf.
Avena FAQ
No. Avena in Colombia is a cold drink. The oats are simmered in milk, chilled for two hours and then blended smooth, and it is poured into glasses. It is sold in bags on the street and drunk with breakfast or in the afternoon.
Not just for temperature. The oats keep absorbing liquid as they cool, which is what gives the drink its body. Blended warm it comes out thin and thickens unpredictably later.
Constantly, for the first fifteen minutes. Oat flakes sink and stick to the bottom of the pot, and a scorched taste goes through the whole batch.
Add a little more water in the blender, which is what the last step allows for. It thickens further overnight, so keep some milk or water aside if you are making it ahead.
You can, and it is a different drink: closer to a thin porridge. The recipe chills it and blends it, and that is what makes it avena.
Flavouring it, and they are what make it recognisably Colombian rather than plain oat milk. The cinnamon stick and the pinch of clove go in halfway, with the sugar and the cream.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups oat flakes
- 3 cups milk
- 1 cup cream
- 1 cup water
- 3 ½ tablespoons sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 pinch clove
Notas
Instructions
- Put the oats, the milk and the water in a pot and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring constantly with a spoon.
- Add the sugar, the cinnamon, the clove and the cream, turn the heat low and leave it for another 15 minutes.
- Take it off the heat, pour it into a container and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- Put the mixture in the blender and blend for about two minutes. If you do not want it too thick, add a little more water. Serve it cold, in glasses.
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