Corn Pie (Pastel de Choclo)

This is a typical Chilean dish. It is traditional to eat it in the summer because that is the season of corn. This dish is delicious and it is my favorite Chilean dish!

For 4 portions.Corn Pie

Ingredients

5 pounds of cut corn
1 1/2 cup of milk
1 pound of ground beef
1 1/2 large onion
1/4 cup of gold raisins
8 large black olives
5 large fresh basil leaves
7 garlic cloves
2 eggs
1/4 red pepper
4 chicken legs
1 tablespoon of lard
olive oil
water
Condiments: ground cumin, whole cumin, paprika, merquen, black pepper, salt, sugar, and chili powder. Everything to taste.


Preparation of the Chicken Legs

Wash the chicken legs and remove a little of the fat.
Cook the chicken legs in water with 4 garlic cloves, 1/4 of red pepper, and salt.
Cook for 45 minutes.


Preparation of the Beef

Peel and chop the onion in small squares.
In a large saute pan, add a little of olive oil and lard.
Saute the onion and add all the ingredients that are in the condiments and also 1 chopped garlic clove.
After a little while cooking, add 1/4 cup of milk.
Then after a little while, add the ground beef.
Stop cooking after the meat is well cooked.
Let it cool to room temperature.


Preparation of the cut Corn

Use a grinder machine to grind the cut corn.
Grind the corn slowly, mixing it with five fresh large basil leaves, two garlic cloves, and one pinch of chili powder.
Later, cook the ground corn in a large pot to medium heat and with a little of olive oil, 1 1/4 cup of milk, for 30 minutes aprox.
You will know that is cooked when the mix thickens and the color turns more yellow.
When the preparation is a little cooked, add salt and sugar to taste.
Stir constantly because the mix gets stuck in the bottom of the pot.


Preparation of the Eggs and Gold Raisins

Wash the eggs.
In a pot, set the eggs covered with cold water.
Cook for 5 minutes after the water is boiling.
The raisins leave in a little of warm water during 5 minutes.


Putting it all together

You can do it in dishes of clay or in individual bowls, or in a bake pan.
For the dishes of clay or individual dishes, you first have to add a little beef.
Then add a half of an egg, two olives, a little of gold raisins, one chicken leg little chopped in medium pieces.
On top of that, add the ground corn and try to smooth the top.
Then above the corn add a little of sugar. This is going to help to get the preparation a little golden and also it will give a nice flavor.
To cook in a baking pan, use the same process and make sure everybody gets some of each ingredient.
Cook in the oven for half an hour or until the preparation is golden at 200 C (400 F aprox).
Serve hot.

You have to be careful of getting burned when you are cooking the ground corn because when it starts to boil, the liquid can splatter and it is very hot.
The milk that you add to the beef) is to soften the flavor of the onion. If you like the strong flavor of the onion, don’t add the milk.
Also another way to prepare the corn, instead of using basil leaves, you can add some red pepper.
Try to make this recipe with fresh corn because it will be more tasty and also because the old corn is tougher to grind.
You can cook the chicken for less minutes, so you don’t have dry chicken, but don’t cook it less than 35 or 40 minutes.