Pastel de Choclo

This past weekend Ellen and I were in definite need of a quiet evening to our selves. I did some checking around trying to find a fun recipe for the two of us to cook together. Cooking has always been something we enjoy doing together. I decided to look into some Chilean dishes that I had read were popular.

That's when I discovered Pastel de Choclo. Ellen and I shopped for the fixings and on Saturday evening we enjoyed this authentic Chilean cuisine.

Choclo is Spanish for clog but Mapuche for corn. I guess the latter is a better translation since it is a Mapuche dish. So a good English translation might be Corn Cake. It's basically a corn and chicken casserole, but it has lots of other interesting additions that make it very unique, like raisins and boiled eggs.

The Mapuche are Indians that still inhabit parts of southern Chile. Similar to the history of many other Latin American countries and the United States for that matter, native Americans (or native South Americans) have played a significant role in the development of national culture.

We proudly present to you our very first homemade authentic Chilean dish . . .







Here's the recipe.