Esquites or Mexican Street Corn Salad
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 10 minutes plus 10 minutes cooling time
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves: 4 as a side dish
- 3 corn cobs or 450g/1lb corn kernels
- 60g/2ozs. butter or oil
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and diced
- 1 red chilli, diced
- 1/2 cup chopped chives
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1/2 clove garlic, grated
- 100g/3.5ozs. cotija or halloumi
- 3 tablespoons coriander or cilantro leaves
- 2 limes, one halved and one quartered
- Salt and pepper
- A few drops hot sauce
- Smoked paprika to season
Step 1 - First remove the kernels from the corn. Remove the husks and silks from the corn, brush well to ensure that there are no remaining silks and then stand the cob vertically thicker side down on a large plate and remove the kernels with a sharp knife. You should end up with around 3 cups or 450g/1lb of kernels.
Step 2 - Heat a frypan and add half of the butter or oil. Fry the corn, garlic and chilli adding more if needed. Cook for 5-6 minutes.
Step 3 - While it is cooking, in a bowl make the garlic and lime crema. Add the sour cream, mayonnaise and garlic together and squeeze in half the lime juice and stir. Allow the corn mixture to cool for 5-10 minutes. Stir in the crema and add the other half of the lime juice, grated cheese, coriander/cilantro and season with salt and pepper and hot sauce (I sometimes add a pinch of sugar if the corn isn't sweet enough). Finish with smoked paprika and serve with quartered limes so that people can add more lime juice if they want.