In Chilean cuisine, corn is a fundamental ingredient and the protagonist of many recipes, such as, for example, chicken stew, a rice soup with sweet corn, chicken, beans, pumpkin, and herbs, and the "porotos granados," a bean, corn, and chopped pumpkin pie with garlic and onion.
Some of its origin
In the past, corn was rubbed by hand between two stones to break the husk and create a creamy paste.
At the Chilean Pavilion, you can try the corn pie, a dish that can be served as an appetizer or as a main course if accompanied by a vegetable side dish.
It is a long-cooked corn pie filled with meat, onion, and hard-boiled eggs. It is a long-cooked corn empanada filled with meat, onions, and hard-boiled eggs.
The dish is served very cleanly because the cooks wanted to respect the old tradition of bringing the dish to the table in a simple clay container.
The pie is bright yellow in color, with brown crusts on the edges in contact with the sides of the mold.
The crispy exterior allows the preparation to retain a pleasant moisture inside, so when you taste it, you can enjoy a soft, tender core. The meat isn’t abundant because here the true protagonist is the corn.
To enjoy it
The most fun part of the dish comes from the different textures, ranging from the crunchy exterior to the softness of the inside, interspersed with small “shakes” caused by the grain’s coating.
For those who want to tone down the sweetness, it is recommended to add a pinch of Merkel, an ancient recipe based on dried chili, cilantro, paprika, salt, and oregano, which gives the dish more character thanks to its strong smoky flavor.
