Mexican Corn Recipes

Corn has long been a Mexican staple food used as a food source since ancient times. Today corn is used in hundreds of traditional Mexican dishes.

Elotes are boiled or roasted ears of corn, which are usually served at Mexican markets. Boiled elotes are kept in cloth-covered buckets or large pots of hot water. The roasted ones might be smeared with mayonnaise or butter. Lemon juice is also good with them. Salt and Tabasco sauce or chili powder might be added as well. You get elotes on a stick so you can eat them on the move.

One of the most famous corn products has to be tortillas. Tortillas are as popular in Mexico as bread is to us and they are eaten at nearly every meal. You can get flour tortillas too. If you grind roasted corn kernels into a powder, you get pinole. This is not usually sold in the markets because Mexicans make their own at home.

Masa and Its Uses

Nixtamal is the result of soaking corn kernels overnight in lime and water and then cooking them. The seed skins slough off in the lime water and the kernels come out puffy and soft. Masa is another popular product and this cream-colored paste, which is made from nixtamal, used to be made with a mortar and pestle. Today it is usually made with a metal grinder.

You can make all sorts of traditional Mexican foods with masa. Fold a tortilla over some chicken and you have a chicken taco. If there is cheese in it, it is a quesadilla. You can get blue or yellow quesadillas, depending on the type of corn used to make the tortilla.

Mexican Tortillas

A “huarache” is a big rectangular piece of fried masa stuffed with bean paste. A “gordita” is a piece of masa stuffed with lard and other ingredients and then fried in grease (not one of the most healthy Mexican dishes!)

Tamales – Delicious and Authentic

If you add lard to masa, then shape it into pouches, you have tamales. You can stuff these with your favorite filling, wrap them in banana leaves or corn shucks, and steam them until the ingredients are cooked. Tamales are really popular in Mexico and authentic Mexican food recipes like tamales are commonplace at parties and celebrations.

There are more than ten types of tamales in Oaxaca alone, including one called “pata de burro” (donkey’s foot) which is extra small. It is also possible to get really big tamales and they can contain a chicken, turkey, or whole suckling pig! These deluxe tamales are seasoned with onions, garlic, and chilies and cooked in a brick oven or earthen pit.

Some tamales are sweet and others are savory. A lot of Mexican towns specialize in more than one type. Some kinds of tamales are only seen during celebrations and others are available throughout the year. “Ash tamales” are those, which are roasted in wood fire embers instead of being steamed.