The World Cup Food Challenge - Day 2 Chile (Chilean Corn Pie)

So, Day 2 of my World Cup Food Challenge and still going strong! All right, so it would be hard not to be going strong on Day 2. The truth is though, I am getting more and more daunted the more I think about what I have gotten myself into and the more I have been researching and planning my meals. Some of the recipes I have come across take time - time I do not have if I want to be out watching the matches as well! Of course I could watch some matches at home while I wait for whatever-it-is-the-meal-of-the-day-is cooks in the oven or stews on the stove. But every once in a while, it would be nice to be out, watching the match with people. So I am actually feeling rather overwhelmed, and as I said, daunted, about this whole plan. And it does not help that almost everyone I have told of my plan have reacted with a sceptically raised eyebrow, followed by good luck wishes of the "you're going to need it" variety. But there's no stopping it now! Or at least Day 2 would be a bit too early to wave my hands in defeat, so I am powering on!

I began by mentally going through everyone in my present circle whom I could potentially call upon to give me a personal suggestion. I drew a blank. There was a Chilean girl in one of my many language classes, but that was a good four years ago. I have moved twice since, and in so doing lost touch with a lot of people, including her. So, I do not have a personal recommendation for Day 2's recipe, rather I sought help from my good friend, Google. In my search for recipes, I have learnt that there are many dishes which are common through much of Central and South America. The taste and flavours I suppose vary depending on the country and region, but the same ingredients do keep popping up. There seems to often be a different versions of some of the same dishes in the different countries. This makes it hard, for me anyway, to know whether a dish can really be said to be "from" that country, or if it just one that has become popular in that particular country. I make no pretence to know the origin of any dish. I don't pretend to be a culinary expert of any description. In selecting the recipe to prepare, I can only hope that the particular recipe I have pulled blind off the Internet is authentic, but I must confess that appeal to my personal taste, accessibility of ingredients and ease of preparation are also essential criterion. Well, that is true for this recipe at least (being only the second recipe, I cannot really generalised how this is going to go). I chose this one for the simple reason that I love corn!

Chilean Corn Pie

I got this recipe from : http://www.quericavida.com/en/recipes/chilean-corn-pie/. I am reproducing the recipe here, just in case the link does not work, but also so I can add my own comments. The original recipe states that it makes 4-6 servings, I roughly halved the ingredients seeing as I was cooking for only me. I had some for dinner, and had enough left over for a packed lunch. I would not recommend trying to serve 6 with these quantities, unless there is going to be a lot of other dishes on the table.

(serves 4)

Olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, chopped

450g ground beef

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp oregano

1 tbsp paprika

1 cup beef broth / water (I used beef broth)

1 tbsp all purpose flour

450g fresh / frozen corn (I used canned sweetcorn)

2 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup yellow corn flour

1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp brown sugar

Method

As usual, all recipes involving the oven start with instructions to preheat the oven. I have yet to see the reason why this is strictly necessary. Unless you have made the dish many times and can zip through the steps in no time at all, or if it is a dish which does not involve a long preparation time, it will take you far longer to get through all the steps before the dish is ready to go into the oven, than it takes for the oven to heat up to desired temperature. The environmental-unfriendliness of having the oven on at 180°C while you prepare everything, especially when quite often it is not crucial to the outcome of the dish that the oven is at optimal temperature when the dish goes in. So, rant aside, use your discretion as to when you would like to start heating the oven. That said, here goes:

1. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Saute onions till translucent, then add garlic for at least two minutes.
2. Add beef and season with paprika, cumin seeds, oregano, salt and pepper to taste. (If beef broth or bought beef stock as broth, which is usually more than well salted, remember to go easy on the salt at this stage. Of course, if intending to use water, then season well. An additional note on the cumin seeds: I love cumin and really liked this dish because of the cumin, but I am not sure I liked having the cumin seeds whole in the finished dish. I am not sure I liked the texture. I would probably grind the cumin seeds or just use cumin powder in the future.)
3. Stir until meat is cooked, then add beef broth or water and bring to a boil.
4. Add flour and mix well for about 5 minutes. (I was a lot more liberal with the flour than the recipe, simply because there was way too much liquid in mine and I did not look forward to having a soup bottom in my dish.)

(And just about now might be a good time to preheat the oven at about 190°C)
5. Blend together corn, cornstarch and yellow corn flour until it is pureed.
6. Gradually pour milk until it becomes a fine mixture. (I had huge problems with this. It might be because I did not have the right type of corn flour, or perhaps my blender was just crap, or both. I had to add water and some of the milk to even get the mixture to puree. And it never really got very fine.)
7. Season with salt and pepper.
8. In a medium pot, melt butter over low heat and add corn mixture, stirring constantly for about 8 minutes.

Finally,
9. Place beef mixture in a greased pan and completely cover surface with corn mixture.
10. Sprinkle brown sugar over the surface. (I was a lot more liberal than the 1 tbsp specified in the recipe, and I think the dish was the better for it. But then again, I do like that caramelised taste...)
11. Bake at about 190°C for about 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown.

Verdict: success!

All right, perhaps not a complete success, because I struggled with the corn mixture, and I over salted the beef. But I definitely liked it, the corn topping in particular. One for the recipe book to be made again, I'd say.

#worldcupfoodchallenge #chileancornpie