Pastel de choclo

Pastel de choclo

Pastel de choclo in the traditional “Paila” for individual portions
Type	Pie
Course	Main
Place of origin	Peru, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia
Main ingredients	Crust: Mashed sweet corn, Filling: ground beef, chicken, raisins, black olives, onions or slices of hard boiled egg

Pastel de choclo ('corn pastel') is a South American dish based on sweetcorn or choclo. First documented as a dish in Peru, it is now a typical Argentine, Bolivian, Chilean and Peruvian dish. It is also similar to pastel de elote, found in Mexican cuisine, and to the English corn pudding. The filling usually contains ground beef, chicken, raisins, black olives, onions or slices of hard boiled egg.

The delicious dish is prepared with sweetcorn, which is ground to form a paste, and seasoned with basil, itself ground and then blended into the corn. The mixture is pre-cooked with milk and a little lard and then, when ready, it is used as a topping for the filling. The filling, known as “pino”, contains minced beef cooked with onions, paprika, other spices, and sometimes chicken, is also used as a filling for traditional Chilean empanadas. The pino is laid in the bottom of the paila with slices of hard boiled egg, olives and raisins.

The Argentinian poet Florencio Escardó wrote the following ode to pastel de choclo, published in 1876:

Y ya lo creo!
¿Habrá cosa mas rica que una humita en chala?
¿Qué les parece á ustedes una mazamorra con leche que haya sido traída desde cinco leguas en el tarro, del lechero?
Y díganme con franqueza, ¿hay cosa mas deliciosa que un pastel de choclo?
¡Si es cuento largo el enumerar las cosas ricas que se hacen con el maiz!