Have you ever had elote? While it may be familiar to anyone who lives in a major city, anyone in the middle of the country may not have any experience with this delicious snack. Elote is a traditional Mexican grilled corn dish, often brushed in a marinade and sprinkled with spices and cotilla cheese. Although it’s definitely delicious as a quick meal on the go, this tasty snack also serves as inspiration for the recipe we’re going to make today. Even if you don’t have any street vendors near you, this dish can bring the flavor straight to your home.
That’s right, today we’re making a Mexican street corn soup, taking its inspiration from classic elote. When made correctly, this dish packs plenty of buttery flavor. The end result is a creamy, delicious dish with a variety of spices, some veggies, jalapeño for kick and some bacon on top for a little burst of flavor. Even if you’ve never tried classic elote before, this dish is sure to become one of your favorite soups. So let’s get started.
Here’s what you’ll need:
Soup:
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- 1 small chopped onion
- 1 minced jalapeño
- 5 cloves of crushed garlic
- 3 tablespoons of flour
- 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon of chili powder
- 4 cups of chicken stock
- 6 cups of frozen corn kernels
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream (or half-and-half or milk)
- 1 cup of freshly chopped cilantro
Toppings:
- 1/2 pound of bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1/2 cup of cotija cheese, crumbled
- 1 sliced jalapeño
Here’s what you do:
1. To get started, throw your butter in a saucepan set over medium-high heat. Let the butter melt before adding in your onions and chopped jalapeño, sautéing everything up for about five minutes. After that, add your minced garlic as well and keep cooking it for one more minute.
2. Next, stir in your flour, chili powder and cumin and keep cooking everything for one to two more minutes. Pour in your chicken stock and keep whisking throughout the process, making sure the entire mixture turns smooth. At this stage, you can bring it all to a boil.
3. After that, add your frozen corn, sugar and salt. Let the mixture come back up to a boil before turning the heat down to low and simmering the whole thing for another 10 minutes.
4. When that’s done, add your cream and cilantro as well and give everything another stir. Let it come back up to your desired heat and you’re ready to serve! Ladle the soup into bowls and top each one with your bacon, cotija and jalapeño slices.
Though it uses all the same ingredients as the street corn you probably know and love, this creamy recipe can be enjoyed as a meal all its own. As you can see, this recipe still has all the zesty flavor and the spice of the original with a twist. Although this version of it has a chowder-like consistency with actual corn pieces in it, you can also transfer the soup over to a high-speed blender if you want a smoother texture. As always, have fun with this recipe and let us know what you think!
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