Sweet Corn Tomalito

This is a recipe I have been making for years now. It's a copycat recipe from a Mexican restaurant chain called Chevy's. We don't live anywhere near a Chevy's anymore, but there was one just down the road when we lived in St. Louis and it was our favorite Mexican place. They serve this on the side of all of their entrées. It's kind of like a sweet corn bread, but the texture is different. It's not bready at all. It's just kind of sweet and corny and it complements spicy Mexican food very well. We loved it so much that I looked around online and found the recipe on one of those copycat recipe websites.

Sweet Corn Tomalito

Ingredients:

5 tbsp butter or margarine, softened

¼ cup Masa Harina

⅓ cup sugar

½ cup warm water

2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen, thawed, divided

½ cup cornmeal

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp plus 1 tsp milk

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl, mix the butter, masa, and sugar using an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.

In a blender or small food processor, blend half the corn kernels with the water until smooth. Combine this mixture with the butter mixture, stirring well. Add the remaining corn kernels, corn meal, baking powder, salt, and milk and mix well. Pour the corn mixture into 2 qt. baking dish. Tightly cover with plastic wrap.

Microwave on 30% power for 7 minutes, then at 100% power for 4 minutes. Tomalito should have a smooth, moist texture.

Makes 6 servings.

It used to be that I didn't make this very often because it was a pain in the butt. The original recipe called for steaming it on the stovetop instead of microwaving. I could never get that to work very well and would always end up throwing it in the oven to finish, but that messed up the texture. Then I found it on Food.com (formerly Recipezaar) and there the microwaving technique was suggested. It comes out perfectly every time now! And it's not so much of a hassle.

The first time I made this recipe, I had to go to a Mexican grocery store to find Masa Harina, but now it can easily be found in the regular grocery store.

I make this every time I make enchiladas because it compliments any kind of enchilada so well.  The slightly sweet corn-iness goes really well with the spicy/salty filling and topping on the enchiladas.