It’s gnarly looking and messy to eat. This Grilled Mexican Corn is the BEST corn I have ever had in my life. (And I don’t say that lightly).
Until a few weeks ago, the best corn I had ever had in my life was David Chang’s Corn with Bacon and Miso butter at Momofuku in NYC. The second best corn I had ever had in my life was Mexican Street Corn in LA (the real deal, called Elotes).
Both of these have now been bumped down not 1, but 2 places. For the most unexpected reason.
I live in a wonderful area of Sydney, known as the Northern Beaches. It’s north of Sydney city and I think it encompasses all that Sydney is known for – beautiful beaches, friendly people, laid back outdoor lifestyle, lots of greenery. And plenty of dog beaches which is a huge plus because my dog Dozer (an abnormally large golden retriever) is obsessed with swimming and chasing sand (yes, chasing sand. Not balls.)
However….I wouldn’t say the Northern Beaches is great for ethnic food. As Aussie as I am – and believe me, I need a regular meat pie fix – I blame the Japanese blood in my veins that has me hankering for a good Asian fix at least once a week. So I make the 30 minute drive to the nearest area with plenty of Asian restaurants (for Sydneysiders reading this, it happens to be Chatswood) just to get some real dumplings, Dan Dan Noodles or BBQ Duck or whatever it is that I happen to be craving. (I have also been known to drive all the way to Parramatta – about 50 km away – just to get laksa. Yes, I’m nuts.)
As a result, I tend to temper my expectations when I dine out locally. So imagine my surprise when I visited a local Mexican restaurant called Mexicano in Narrabeen and not only was it scrumptiously delicious on every level, it is the best Mexican I’ve ever had in Sydney. It’s the closest I’ve had to the real deal (which is saying a lot in Sydney where Tex Mex still dominates). And they do killer margaritas too, which always scores highly in my books.
The stand out was the corn. Really. It sounds so weird saying that. Me, the taco fiend, saying that a vegetable dish was the stand out.
It was that good.
Char grilled, smothered in a chipotle mayo and coated in parmesan cheese, it was so good that I would have hoovered down the whole plate myself except I was with friends and I hear it’s rude not to share (isn’t it?).
So I made it my mission to replicate it at home. The menu describes it as “chargrilled corn with chipotle mayo, cheese, lime and smoked spice.” It took a few goes, making a sauce with punchy enough flavours to compliment rather than being drowned out the strong smoky char grilled flavours. But I’m really happy with what I came up with. I dare to even say that it’s even better than the restaurant’s!
So here’s the new Corn Pecking Order:
1. My homemade Grilled Mexican Corn with Chipotle Adobo Sauce (i.e. this recipe….in case it wasn’t clear!)
2. Mexicano‘s (Narrabeen, Sydney) Char Grilled Corn (which I copied)
3. Momofuku David Chang’s Corn with Bacon and Miso Butter
4. Real Mexican Street Corn Elotes (i.e. the real, real deal Mexican corn).
So here’s the recipe for the best Mexican corn ever. At least, in my humble books. 🙂
– Nagi
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Grilled Mexican Corn with Chipotle Adobo Sauce (Mexicano Restaurant Copycat)
Ingredients
Chipotle Adobo Mayo
- 1 1/2 tbsp chipotle in adobo sauce (1 chipotle + sauce totalling 1 1/2 tbsp) (Note 4)
- 1/4 cup whole egg mayonnaise (Note 1)
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano flakes
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Black pepper
Corn
- 4 to 6 corn on the cob
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (Note 2)
- 1/4 tsp ancho chili powder , chipotle powder or smoky paprika
- Lime wedges , for serving
Instructions
- Place the Chipotle Adobo Mayo ingredients in a small food processor and blend until smooth. (Note 3)
- BBQ: Heat the grill side on high. Grill corn for around 8 minutes, or until charred all over and cooked through.
- Stovetop: Boil a large pot of water. Add the corn and boil for 10 minutes. Drain and let the corn steam dry in the colander for a few minutes. Heat a skillet with 1 tbsp of olive oil over high heat. Add the corn and cook all over until nicely charred.
- Allow the corn to cool slightly.
- Place the parmesan in a shallow dish.
- Use a pastry brush to generously slather each corn with the Chipotle Adobo Mayo.
- Roll the corn in the parmesan.
- Sprinkle with a pinch of ancho chili powder, and serve with lime wedges on the side.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Corn was dry, flavours didnt work as i had expected. Not sure what went wrong I usually love Nagi’s recipes.
Soooooo yummy!! A lot of people asked for the recipe when I made these for a lunch. I served alongside mac and cheese, Chang’s noodle salad, pulled pork and potato salad.
Your recipes look great. Looking forward to trying several.
Whoa 😮One word DELISH! Wish I had of known about this place in Narrabeen when I was in Sydney last month- would of definitely tried the original because this was seriously damn good! 🙌🏼🙌🏼
Hi Nagi
you never cease to delight me!
I had this corn at that very restaurant in Narabeen a while ago, Food was amazing! And they were kind enough to tell me how they made it and I put it into a file on the PC. and I have made it since then.
The PC died suddenly and I lost the recipe, so here it is again, so thank you big time!
Also I am happily in the throes of planning a family dinner for Sunday, which will be my first real cook up after a recent spell in hospital. All good.
I will be making this corn, your Asian slaw, the chicken skewers with the pineapple and the coconut rice amongst other things for 10 people and a tres leches cake for dessert. I have made one with crushed pineapple under the cream on the top of the cake. Bit of a theme?
So thank you for giving me my cooking mojo back!
I never tire of looking at photos of Dozer. Love that boy!
Just an update
I absolutely love this recipe. The corn was fabulous and popular. And the chipotle mayo is stunning
I used it again tonight on pan toasted tortilla with leftover slow cooked shredded brisket, undressed slaw, shredded salad greens
My oh my. It’s so versatile and a keeper thank you!
Wahoo, sounds amazing Patricia, I hope you have a great dinner!
I found this recipe while going through your blog (I love your recipes so much I just scroll through looking for food inspo and admiring your gorgeous creations). My first thought was oh, maybe I can recreate the delicious corn from Mexicano! Then I saw that you are from the northern beaches (I’m from Narrabeen) and this where you took your inspiration from!! To say i’m happy about this is an understatement! Have you tried their chocolate margaritas?? Probably my favourite restaurant next to Sunset Sabi. Have you been? I need to try and recreate their cheeseburger gyoza. I can’t wait to try this recipe as every single thing you make is amazing 🙂
P.S. I love dozer, if you ever have some random female excitedly run up to you and/or Dozer you know that will be me haha!
NO WAY!!! You’re a local? I LOVE hearing from locals!!! Mexicano is still the BEST Mexican in Sydney, in my personal opinion! I see the owner around, he’s a good guy. I haven’t tried the margaritas – possibly the ONLY one I haven’t tried!! Sunset Sabi?? I will go! I love getting good restaurant recommendations for around this area! And YES come and say hi to me if we ever run into each other! Good chance I’ll look bed raggled with flour all down my front or yoghurt in my hair (really, I’ve been caught out several times) and/or yelling at Dozer for doing something naughty / eating something random off the streets!!
Um…This was as awesome as Jesus. I had my first Mexican style corn in Tx on a street corner and this recipe is good notch or two above. My wife and I loved it so much I made it for my “foodie” In-laws and gained major points. I ended up making a vat (just a 16oz jar actually) of the Chipotle Mayo/sauce. It actually works great for my lunch sandwiches, but I grill the corn often enough I didn’t want to keep remaking the stuff.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it Isaiah, thanks for coming back to let me know! N x
This reminds me of Mexican street corn, only better! Pinned!!
Thanks Kristen! 🙂
Just polished off a cob of this amazing goodness. I’ll never boil corn by itself again. Thank you Nagi
Karen!! I’m SO happy you enjoyed it!! Isn’t it amazing?? Well, I can’t take credit. All credit goes to Mexicano restaurant for giving me the idea!! 🙂 Happy weekend Karen! Hope you have a great one – N x
Yes, yes and YES! I love Mexican corn, this looks incredible Nagi!!!
Thanks so much Jessica!! I know, Mexican corn is AWESOME! 🙂
Nagi, if I served this to my boys they would eat this first and then ask for seconds, maybe thirds. Don’t you just love that extra flavor that grilling adds to the corn ?! I sure wish we could find proper tender and sweet corn here in Hong Kong. The stuff here in Asia is about as tender as cow feed. Not that I have tasted cow feed, mind you, but you get the point. Will have to give this recipe a go when I am back in the Western world. Sharing and pinning, of course!
You know, I never thought about that….I am pretty sure corn is not common in Japan either! How interesting!
You sure about the cow feed? Go on….tell! I accidentally ate dog biscuits once. SERIOUSLY. They shouldn’t make carob covered dog biscuits – dangerous!
I absolutely love Mexican street corn! India also has a street corn, bhutta. Love it!
Ooh!! I didn’t know! I’m going to look it up right away! 🙂
Girlfriend, just don’t look at my post about it. Ha! It was when I first started blogging and didn’t care about my pictures! =p
Nags!
I’m glad you mentioned the Margaritas we got stuck into that night at Mexicano 🙂
Was a delicious outing all round!
Xx
Well, well….hellooooo!!! See, I kept my word. No photos of you “signalling boats” from the sun lounge or demonstrating downward dog or doing your roots or leaving PERSONAL ITEMS of clothing all around the house…. he he he!! 🙂
Yes…yes YES!!!! God this is amazing!!!! I had corn like this once at a party and I was in love!!! And now I have been reinspired by you to recreate this!!!! Dear god it looks like heaven!!!! Thank you for this… I now have a drool spot on my keyboard.
I’d drive one hour just for laksa too.. 🙂
You’re my kind of person!! 🙂
The dish and the sauce look like perfect summer time party material. And because it’s hot I think Indians and especially my family would enjoy this completely, however we will need to keep this until next season, after the rains, and then I will make your corn and sauce for them.
You know, I never thought about corn in India….I actually don’t know any Indian dishes with corn in it…I don’t think?? In Australia corn is available year around. Not in India?
Now THAT’S corn. I’ve always been a corn purist. Put corn in boiling water, take off heat and leave it for 10 minutes until dinner’s ready, add butter and salt and eat.
Until I just saw this. 🙂
Corn is so good, it doesn’t NEED anything else. But when you do add something to it…..oh my oh my!!! 🙂
Being from San Diego I totally get what you are saying about elotes. I was obsessed with it and ate it as often as possible right off the little street vendor carts! I have a recipe for it on my blog PLUS an Elotes Pasta Salad. However, THIS looks so frickin’ amazing!! I have got to give it a try. I am nervous that my beloved elotes will get bumped down the line as it did on your list LOL
Don’t get me wrong! I will gorge myself on Elotes regularly if I had street vendor carts where I live!! I’m sure I wouldn’t bother making these if I could. But because we don’t even have the right cheese here in Sydney, I can’t make anything close to the real Elotes!!! This is only yummier to me because it has more flavour in it because of the sauce. 🙂
This looks amazingly delicious 🙂 I would never expect to find really great Mexican in Australia– I’ve had some pretty so-so Tex Mex there! I’ve never been to Sydney though– I have friends in Melbourne, where I can attest to some of the best Asian food I’ve ever had– and I’ve lived in Asia for 6 years now.
Corn is such a great summer food– or here in the tropics, a year-round food that the American in me will always label “summer.”
Hey Michelle! You got it bang on – Australia does AMAZING Asian food, I guess because of proximity and we have such a diverse culture which is one of the reasons I LOVE Australia so much! But Mexican is definitely not something that is done well 🙂 But it’s gradually changing!! We need to get more authentic ingredients imported though. Like the cheese! Kills me that we don’t even have cotija here. Where in Asia do you live?
Now I am living in Malaysia– was in Korea before.
Another reason Australia’s Asian is better than Asian-Asian? YOUR FRESH PRODUCE! Holy cow. That is one thing I don’t like about living with Asia– it’s so hard to get fresh, nice produce. I am in heaven when I’m in Aus and even small cafes bring out fresh micro greens and beets and roasted veg…
True! There is a wider variety here….but there are so many pros for living in Asia too!! i mean – Korea? You’re SO lucky!! Korean food is ALL the rage right now thanks to David Chang. I would love to spend a decent chunk of time in Korea. And Malaysia…come on! Some of the BEST food in the WORLD!! You are sooooooo lucky…… N x
I just love the Mexican dishes you share here. 🙂 They’re so close to what I know and love from my years in California. 🙂
Thanks Krista!! Some of the best Mexican I’ve ever had was in LA. I can’t wait to go back soon! 🙂