Pastel de Choclo

Chile's summer bake of ground fresh corn and basil spread over a beef and onion pino with olives, egg and raisins, finished with a sugar crust

Origin: Santiago & the Central Valley of Chile

From the journey of Corn.

Pastel de choclo is a summer dish and cannot honestly be made outside the season, because it requires fresh corn ground raw off the cob rather than any dried or tinned form. The kernels are cut off, ground with milk and a great deal of basil to a coarse loose paste, and cooked briefly with butter until they thicken into something between a purée and a batter, which is then spread over the filling and baked in an earthenware dish until the top blisters. The basil is the marker. Chileans grind albahaca into the corn in quantity, and the finished topping smells strongly of it; a pastel de choclo without basil is recognised immediately as wrong, and it is the clearest single difference between this and the Peruvian and Bolivian corn bakes it is related to. Underneath is pino, the beef and onion mixture that also fills Chilean empanadas: an equal weight of onion to meat, cooked slowly with cumin and paprika until the onion has gone soft and sweet, with a black olive, a slice of hard-boiled egg, a few raisins, and often a piece of chicken laid in. The word pino comes from Quechua pirru and has nothing to do with pine. The finish is a spoonful of sugar scattered over the corn before it goes into the oven, which caramelises into a thin brittle crust. The sweet-against-savoury result divides visitors and is not negotiable to Chileans, who will also serve the dish with a glass of something cold and a green salad and consider the matter closed.

Ingredients

Topping

  • 8 large ears fresh corn, kernels cut off, about 900g
  • 250 ml milk
  • 1 large handful basil leaves
  • 60 g butter
  • 1.5 tsp salt

Pino

  • 600 g beef skirt or chuck, finely chopped by hand
  • 700 g onions, finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp oil
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1 tbsp sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

To assemble

  • 2 chicken thighs, cooked and torn
  • 3 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
  • 12 black olives, stoned
  • 60 g raisins, soaked in warm water

To finish

  • 3 tbsp caster sugar

Method

  1. Make the pino first and ideally the day before. Cook the onions in the oil over a low heat for twenty-five minutes until completely soft and sweet, without browning them.
  2. There must be as much onion as beef by weight. A pino short of onion is dry and harsh, and this is the commonest fault.
  3. Add the cumin, paprika, and oregano, cook for two minutes, then add the chopped beef, salt, and pepper.
  4. Cook for fifteen minutes until the meat is done and the mixture is juicy but not swimming, then cool it completely.
  5. For the topping, blend the raw corn kernels with the milk and basil to a coarse paste; it should keep some texture rather than going to a smooth purée.
  6. Melt the butter in a wide pan, add the corn paste and the salt, and cook over a medium heat for eight to twelve minutes, stirring constantly.
  7. It thickens suddenly and then catches. Stir it without stopping and take it off as soon as it holds the trail of the spoon.
  8. Spread the cold pino in an earthenware dish, lay the torn chicken, egg slices, olives, and drained raisins over it.
  9. Spoon the warm corn over the top and level it, taking it right to the edges so the filling is sealed in.
  10. Scatter the sugar evenly over the surface.
  11. Bake at 200°C for thirty-five to forty-five minutes until the top is set, blistered, and browned in patches; give it a few minutes under the grill if it is still pale.
  12. Rest for fifteen minutes before serving, since it is molten straight from the oven.

Notes

Fresh corn only. Tinned or frozen kernels give a watery topping that will not thicken, and dried corn flour gives a polenta. Equal weights of onion and beef in the pino, cooked slowly. Grind plenty of basil into the corn; it is what makes the dish Chilean. Stir the corn constantly while it thickens, because it catches within seconds. The sugar crust is traditional and is not an optional flourish. Make the pino a day ahead if you can, both for flavour and because cold filling under warm topping keeps the layers distinct.

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