Corn "Pudding"

I put the pudding in quotes here because that's what it is technically called, although it is definitely not what I consider a pudding. Anyway, the inspiration from the dish comes from a meal we recently had at Chevy's, a chain type Mexican restaurant which gives you a sombrero on your birthday! The meal wasn't for anyone's birthday; we mainly went there because it was one of the few places that has decent gluten free meals for our friend Bootleg. Anyway, Ruchir and I shared some Feast type meal, with tons of random foods thrown in there. When the meal arrived, the plate was heaped with enchiladas and chimichangas and chili rellenos and rice and beans and then a small scoop of some corn concoction.

"Corn?? No thanks," I said, as I quickly grabbed the chimichanga. While I do like corn bread, corn of the fresh variety is a little too vegetably for me. Unless it's on the cob and grilled and then doused in lime juice and chili powder the way Aunt Molly taught me, now that stuff is good!

Anyway, so I grabbed the chimichanga and got a bit of this corn mess on my fork on accident. I tentatively took a bite. Yowza that stuff was good! It was like extremely soft and cuddly corn bread! And it was sweet, deliciously sweet, and it made me want more. Unfortunately Ruchir wanted more too, and gulped most of it down before I had a chance to protest. Long story short, I decided to look up a recipe for it. Chevy's calls it "corn tamalito" whatever that means, but it seems like most everyone else calls it corn pudding. This version I made wasn't as good as Chevy's but I made a few substitutions which might have been the problem.

Chevy's Sweet Corn Tamalito aka Corn Pudding
from: grouprecipes.com

Ingredients

5 Tbsp. butter, softened
1/4 cup masa (corn flour)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen, thawed
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. milk

In a small mixing bowl, mix the butter, masa, and sugar using an electirc mixer until light and fluffy. About 1 minute.
In a blender, blend half of the corn kernels with the water until smooth.
Combine this mixture with the butter mixture.
Add the remaining corn kernels, corn meal, baking powder, salt and milk and mix well.
Pour the corn mixture into an 8 inch square baking pan. Tightly cover with foil
Preheat oven 250 degree F. Place covered dish in a larger roasting pan filled with so water is 3/4 of inch up side of baking dish. Bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
It is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Tomalito should have a smooth, moist texture.

I used regular flour instead of masa, and quick cooking polenta instead of corn meal. Hey gotta use what you have available. These turned out soft and sweet, but the texture just wasn't quite right. I scooped them out, squished them into a ball, and then scarfed them down.