Pastel de choclo

Pastel de choclo is corn pie or cake, is a traditional dish from Chile. A sort of shepherd's pie. It is also similar to pastel de elote, found in Mexican cuisine.

Choclo is an Andean variety of corn with large starchy kernels that are slightly less sweet than most North American corn varieties, though any corn works well for this recipe. You can often find frozen choclo in Latin American grocery stores.

This dish is traditionally baked in a shallow, round clay pot. A cast-iron skillet works well as a substitute (with the benefit of being able to cook the onions and beef in it first), but any casserole dish will do.

While this dish is filling on its own, sliced tomatoes or a tossed salad is a nice addition to the meal.

The dish 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. The pino is laid in the bottom of the paila with slices of hard boiled egg, olives and raisins.