| Pastel de choclo | |
| Region: | South America |
| Course: | Main |
| Type: | Pie |
| Main Ingredient: | Crust: Mashed sweet corn, Filling: ground beef, chicken, raisins, black olives, onions, or slices of hard boiled egg |
Pastel de choclo ("corn pie" or "corn cake") is a South American dish made from sweetcorn or choclo. It is similar to the 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.[1] It is traditional in the gastronomies of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay.[2] [3] [4]
Pastel de choclo is prepared with sweetcorn ground into a paste. It is then seasoned with ground basil that is blended into the corn. The mixture is pre-cooked with milk and a little lard and 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.[5] 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:[6]