Pastel de Choclo

This weekend, my host Mom was nice enough to teach me how to make Pastel de Choclo, one of Chile's traditional dishes. Literally translated as "Corn Pie," Pastel de Choclo reminds me of the more American Shepherds's pie, only with a grated corn topping instead of mashed potatoes.

While attempting to help my host Mom out, I quickly realized how different the tools and cooking methods she uses are from the ones I am accustomed to. In turn, I mostly ended up stirring as she chopped, shredded, and seasoned away. In retrospect, this was probably a good thing- that's why I ended up with enough photos to dedicate an entire blog post to Pastel de Choclo. Next time I want to make it myself though...

As you can see from the photos below, the dish turned out great, and we even got to share it with Jasmine, the founder of Voz for whom I am interning.

Lunchtime Smiles

The Main Ingredients

Basil and Cilantro

(home-grown and fresh from my host family's apartment balcony!)

Grating the Choclo

It turns out the variety of Chilean choclo (corn) used in this recipe is much starchier and harder than the corn found in the United States. When making Pastel de Choclo, my host mom hand-grates the corn. It turns out this task is much easier said than done. When I tried to lend a hand, she couldn't help but laugh- it was quite a struggle for me since the corn kernals were so much harder than what I am used to.

The Fruits of Our Labor: Hand-grated Choclo

...after some cooking and seasoning

(we added basil, margarine, salt, and pepper)

El Pino (meat filling)

(contains onions, ground beef, onions and salt)

Pino is a traditional meat filling used in a variety of Chilean dishes. For example, it is frequently put inside empanadas. Just like Chilean salads, pinos are very basic, including just a few simple ingredients.

When cooking, I also learned that the onions should be cut very finely. My host Mom doesn't usually use a chopping board, preferring to simply hold the onion and cut away. When I tried to do the same, my pieces ended up 4-5x the size of hers so I went back to stirring and taking pics.

The Master Chef

The Last Step

As you can see in the picture above, the pino is spooned into the bottom of the individual Pastel de Choclo dishes. Then, it's topped off with the corn, sprinkled with sugar (Chileans love sugar), popped into the oven, and garnished with cilantro.