Elote- Mexican style street corn

Elote is a Mexican style street corn dish in which corn on the cob is either grilled or boiled and then spread with butter, mayonnaise and cheese. A delight for corn lovers.

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Last week after a few torturous days of the sandstorm, it rained continuously for almost two days in Dubai. For a lot of you, it may be no big deal but for people in dry places like Dubai, rain is something to celebrate.

This weather made me crave corn. For those of you who are surprised by this, I will explain.

If you ever travel to India during monsoon, you will see a lot of roadside vendors selling corn on the cob grilled on a coal fire. These grilled corns on the cob are known as bhutta/ makkai/chhalli in Hindi.

The joy of enjoying bhutta covered with fresh lime juice, salt, and red chili powder, during the Indian monsoon, cannot be defined in words. Most of us Indians grow up enjoying this treat during monsoon.

Now you will understand the reason for my corn craving during two days of rain in Dubai.

So, I went to the market and bought corn on the cob with the intention of grilling them in Indian style but then the food voyager inside me got curious to look for street food recipes made with corn in different countries and I came across a very interesting Mexican street food know as Elote and I am sharing its recipe today.

I will never forget these two rainy days of Dubai which introduced me to such an interesting corn recipe which we had never tried before.

Elote is a very popular street food of Mexico in which corn on the cob are first grilled/boiled and then a skewer is inserted in them which serve as handles. They are then covered with mayonnaise, cotija cheese, lime juice, and red chili powder.

Now it’s not easy to find cotija cheese everywhere so if you can’t find it, use grated parmesan cheese or feta cheese to get that crumbled cheese texture.

Also, there were two types of Elote recipe on the internet- one where the corn was grilled and the other in which it was boiled.

Here I have boiled the corn, you can also grill it if you wish. Only the method of cooking the corn will be different in both the recipes, the rest of the steps will remain the same.

Is there any special street food made with corn in your country too? If yes, please let me know about it in the comments section.

Step by step photo instructions