Published: Apr 6, 2018 · Modified: Apr 3, 2020 by Sandhya Ramakrishnan · This post may contain affiliate links

Esquites | Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad

Name: Esquites | Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 3 servings
Ingredients: Corn kernels - 2 cups (frozen or fresh); Oil - 1 tbsp (olive oil or vegetable oil); Jalapeno - 1 tbsp (deseeded and finely chopped); Garlic - 1 clove (finely minced); Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp; Sour cream - 2 tbsp; Mexican blend cheese - 2 tbsp; Lemon juice - 1 tbsp; Salt - to taste; Cilantro - 4 tbsp (finely chopped)

When thinking of alphabet E, the choices were many. I had plans to make Empanada, but that is already made and blogged about. Then I wanted to make something with Ellu (sesame), but had better plans for its usage. That is how I landed on the this, Esquites | Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad. Everything seemed right about this Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad. I knew the boys would love it. I had all the ingredients that I needed, but I postponed making it for so long.

We traveled all last week. My Elder son sang at a very prestigious Indian Music festival that happens at Cleveland every year and we were gone all week for that. I came back and the schools remained closed because of the teacher’s strike. It just felt that the days were moving so fast and before I knew it I was writing the recipe for alphabet D – Double Ka Meetha.

I learned one thing, never postpone a dish thinking it is a easy one and can be made in few minutes. You never know what will come and even a pleasurable, easy recipe will feel like a big job. I quickly made the Esquites | Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad, yesterday for lunch along with roti and Mixed Vegetable Kurma. The boys were really excited to eat the salad, just as I expected, but were very upset that I did not make enough to eat for snack that afternoon.

That is a good problem to have and I promised the boys that I will make this for their lunch boxes right after school re-opens. Not sure when that is going to happen. Our districts have declared that the school is still closed for Monday. As I am writing this, I am planning on what to cook on Monday that will satisfy the boys and also work on my favor.

This Esquites | Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad is a very simple and quick to make. It takes 20 minutes from start to finish and the best part is we can make it year around using frozen corn kernels. Once summer is here, I will be making it with fresh corn. If you have canned corn in your pantry, go ahead and use that. It will taste just as good. The only trick to make it taste awesome is to let the corn caramelize and get a light char all around.

Let’s check the recipe of Esquites | Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad. Before that check out what I have been doing for the other alphabets so far –

My Other Posts in the A – Z Explore the Flavors Series

A for Akki Roti

B for Baghrir with Orange Butter Sauce

C for Chickpeas Shawarma

D for Double Ka Meetha

Preparation time – 5 minutes
Cooking time – 15 minutes
Difficulty level – easy

Ingredients to make Esquites | Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad – Serves 3

Corn kernels – 2 cups (frozen or fresh)
Oil – 1 tbsp (olive oil or vegetable oil)
Jalapeno – 1 tbsp (deseeded and finely chopped)
Garlic – 1 clove (finely minced)
Red chili powder – 1/2 tsp
Sour cream – 2 tbsp
Mexican blend cheese – 2 tbsp
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Cilantro – 4 tbsp (finely chopped)

Procedure to make Esquites | Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad –

I used frozen corn to make the Esquites | Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad. Heat a heavy pan, preferably a cast iron pan on medium high heat.
Add the oil to the pan and when the oil starts to smoke, add the frozen corn kernels. Mix it well and let it caramelize / roast on one side. Then mix it well and let it roast on the other side. I left it for 3 to 4 minutes without disturbing and then mixed it and did the same until it was uniformly caramelized all over.

At the end of the cooking time add the minced garlic, jalapeno, chili powder and salt and mix well. Let it cook for a minute and then turn off the flame.

Add the sour cream, lemon juice, cilantro and cheese and mix it well.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes and Observation –

I used frozen corn kernels to make the Creamy Mexican Street Corn Salad. It worked great. You could use fresh corn kernels or canned ones as well.
Make sure that you let the corn get a slight char all over. That makes the Esquites very flavorful.
We could use mayonnaise or Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. We could skip it altogether as well
The actual recipe calls for crumbly Mexican cheese like cotija. Feta would work well as well. I ran out of my feta stock and hence uses Mexican blend cheese.
Don’t skip the chili powder. It adds a zing to the salad.

5 from 17 votes