Chilean Pastel de Choclo

Chilean Pastel de Choclo

SpiceBreeze
Pastel de choclo is a corn casserole that is popular throughout South America. The main layer is ‘pino’, ground meat fried with onions and typical South American spices. The corn is blended with fresh basil leaves and caramelized in the oven. Traditional fillings are olives and boiled eggs, and sometimes cooked chicken. As always, we kept it simple, and you can skip a layer or make it vegetarian. 
Hands-on Time 30 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Chilenean
Servings 3

Ingredients
  

Shopping list

  • 1 lb ground beef or poultry or mixed
  • 2 lb corn kernels
  • 8 leaves largefresh basil
  • 1 cup black olives pitted
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 2 hard-boiled eggs sliced
  • milk
  • sugar
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • vegetable oil
  • salt

Optional

  • raisins
  • fresh side salad

Culinary Spice

  • Aji panca, cumin

Instructions
 

Corn Paste

  • In a FOOD PROCESSOR, mix corn and basil with a little milk into a creamy paste.
  • In a POT, cook the corn paste with butter and salt to taste over low heat for about 20 minutes until it thickens. Stir frequently.

Pino Filling

  • In a PAN, heat 2 tbsp oil over medium heat.
  • Fry onions until they turn translucent.
  • Add meat, Pastel de Choclo spices, and salt to taste.
  • Stir-fry meat until it’s crumbled and cooked. Set aside.

Assembling

  • Coat a BAKING DISH with oil.
  • Fill it in layers, starting with the meat, add eggs, olives, and optional raisins.
  • Finish with a thick layer of the corn paste.
  • Sprinkle the top thinly with sugar.

Bake

  • Preheat OVEN to 350°F.
  • Bake the pastel de choclo in the OVEN until the sugar turns brown.

Serve

  • Serve the pastel de choclo with a fresh salad of your choice (optional).
  • Enjoy!

Notes

▪ Substitute ground meat (all or partly) with chopped vegetables, for instance, eggplants, zucchini, or mushrooms.
▪ Substitute black olives with green olives.
▪ Add a small carrot (thinly sliced) to the ground meat.
▪ Add cooked chicken (bone- and skinless, shredded) as the second layer, on top of the ground meat.