I've been wanting to try this for some time now and
finally got around to it.

Pastel de Choclo is a South American dish - there are
versions in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia and probably
other countries as well.

I collected about 8 or 9 recipes. Most were fairly similar
ground beef with raisins (and olives which I left out - yuck),
chicken, hard-boiled eggs, corn custard topping.

Here the way I made it - taking ideas from several different
recipes.

Kate's Pastel de Choclo

Filling:
3 T. butter or olive oil
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 med. onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic or more to taste
1 c. raisins
1 aji amarillo or other hot yellow chile, diced
1 T. paprika
2 t. ground cumin or cumin seed
2 t. dried oregano or 1 T. minced fresh oregano
salt and pepper
1/4 c. flour (optional)

3 cooked chicken thighs or equivalent in other chicken meat
3 hard-boiled eggs

Topping:
3-4 cups pureed corn, fresh, canned, or frozen
1 1/2 c. milk and/or cream
2 t. dried basil or 1 T. minced fresh basil
1/4 c. cornmeal
1 T. cornstarch
3 T. butter or olive oil
salt if necessary (fresh or frozen corn)

Heat butter or olive oil in skillet. Saute onion and garlic until
softened. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Add raisins and
chile and cook a few minutes. Add seasonings. Add flour to thicken
slightly if necessary. Put in 9"x13" casserole and spread over bottom.

Slice eggs and arrange over meat layer. Chop or shred chicken
meat. (You can also use slices of breast meat or large pieces of
meat.) Arranged chicken over egg slices.

Puree enough corn to make 3-4 cups. I used 3 8-oz. cans of corn
which came out to about over 3 1/2 cups pureed. Put corn in pot,
blend in remaining ingredients and cook until somewhat thickened.
Pour corn over casserole. Bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes. Serve with
any sort of salad, but a Chilean one would be nice.

Notes: Of the recipes I collected some called for only cumin or only
oregano in the ground beef layer. Some also called for olives which I
omitted as I hate olives. About half, I think, called for garlic and
one for the yellow chile. I saw some nice hot chiles at the store -
about 4" long and ranging from green/yellow to yellow/orange to red.
I picked out a yellow/orange one. They did not give the name of the
chile but it looked like aji amarillo which is a typical chile used in
Peru and other S. American countries. Only one recipe called for flour
but I decided to use some to thicken up the juices a little.

I used 3 chicken thighs which I baked and then removed the skin (saved
for later to be broiled crispy as a snack) and the bones and then
chopped the meat. One of the recipes only had the chicken - no beef.
One of the recipes only had the beef - no chicken. Most of them had
both. One recipe had only cheese - no meat at all. Most of the
recipes called for the hard-boiled eggs.

For the corn topping only one of the recipes called for the cornmeal
and cornstarch. I decided to do that. I like it a lot. Most of
the recipes do not have any "thickener" in the corn topping. One of
them, however called for raw eggs divided - the yolks cooked with
the corn and the white beaten and folded in at the end. Some of the
recipes called for sugar or powdered sugar in the corn topping. Since
our corn is sweeter than that found in Latin American countries I
skipped the sugar. The recipe from Chile mentioned that they also serve
extra sugar at table to add as you eat it. Much as I love sweet stuff
I did not use any sugar. I though it was quite sweet as it was. Also,
most of the recipes called for corn on the cob (4-8 ears). I just faked
it with the canned corn. One recipe did call for 3 cups of corn kernels
before pureeing. That didn't seem like enough to me. I wanted a nice
thick corn pudding layer.

I think the next time I will try the corn topping with the beaten
egg whites instead of the cornmeal just to see if I like it. Also I
think I will use more ground beef and leave out the chicken next time.
I liked it with the chicken but I think I would like it better without.
If I had had the energy to make this salad below it would have been
very good with it.

ENSALADA CHILENA

4 c. finely sliced, onion
4 c. finely sliced peeled tomatoes
1 t. salt
pepper
3 T. oil
lemon juice to taste
½ c. chopped fresh coriander leaves

Put onions in a bowl. Cover with cold water and leave for an hour.
Drain well. Mix with the tomatoes on a large platter. Sprinkle with
salt and pepper. Pour on oil and lemon juice. Mix and serve with
chopped coriander on top.

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?