Anyone who’s ever traveled into Mexico has likely seen street vendors selling grilled corn on the cob. If you haven’t been able to travel to Baja, perhaps you’ve seen the hilarious Jack Black movie, “Nacho Libre”? The character “Esqueleto” seemed to be frequently eating this messy Mexican street delicacy.
When I lived in Southern California, I would occasionally head down to Tijuana to visit suppliers. Each trip I’d look forward to the street cuisine vendors over everything else…well, and the illegal fireworks which I’d smuggle back over the boarder. The Mexican Street Corn is AMAZING. The only drawback to eating it off the cob was the inevitable kernel skins that would fill every crevasse between your teeth. It would taker the full 4 hr drive home to dislodge them. Each time I would swear that I’d never have it again but it’s sooo good, I’d still get it the next time. Below is my take on this Mexican Classic…
Mexican Street Corn Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 4 ears of corn
- 1/2 cup (110g) finely crumbled Cotija cheese
- 1/4 cup (60ml) mayonnaise
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems
- chilli powder
- cayenne pepper powder
DIRECTIONS
- Remove husk and silk from your corn. Do NOT remove the stem! The stem provides a great handle when grilling in the next step.
- Place the de-husked corn on a grill that been preheated to 350-400 degrees. Rotate the corn frequently to achieve a light to medium char all the way around. The stems that you left on in the previous step help provide an easy way to rotate the corn.
- Remove the corn from the grill when the desired char is achieved.
- Using a butter knife, spread a thin layer of mayonaise over the corn. Again, the stem make for a great handle while doing this!
- Sprinkle crumbled cotija cheese over the corn.
- Sprinkle chillli powder over the corn.
- Sprinkle cayenne pepper powder over the corn (optional)
- Squeeze the juice of a lime wedge onto each cob.
- Garnish with finely chopped cilantro.
- ENJOY!
OPTIONAL: Cut the corn off the cob after grilling and mix all the ingredients together in a bowl to serve the street corn as a relish in tacos or other Mexican dishes!
