If you know anything about South American cooking and gastronomy, you might be familiar with a food known as arepa.
Arepas are a typical breakfast food in both Venezuela and Colombia, but can be enjoyed at any time of the day.
Not only are they delicious, arepas are shockingly simple to eat and allow for a ton of creativity and variations. Here’s how to make the arepa.
Ingredients
- Pre-cooked cornmeal flour (look for the PAN brand)
- Salt
- Warm water
- Butter
Method
First, add the amount of flour that you wish to use for your arepas to a mixing bowl. Don’t worry, as this recipe doesn’t call for exact measuring, but rather proportioning.
After this, add a sprinkle or two of salt to the flour, depending on how large the quantity is in your bowl.
Next, gradually add warm water to the flour. Begin to gently knead the dough and add more water until it becomes soft and malleable. It should be the consistency of a typical bread dough.
Make the arepa dough into circular ball shapes. The Venezuelan recipe calls for small, golf ball-sized portions, while the Colombian version of arepas can be up to the size of a dinner plate. You can choose based on personal preference.
After this, add butter to a pan on the stove at medium-high heat. Cook the arepa on one side until it is golden brown, and then flip and cook the other side until it reaches the same color. Repeat until there’s no more dough.
Now, you can open your arepa and fill it with delicious things such as shredded chicken or beef, caramelized onions, black beans, guacamole, or cheese. Yum! Wasn’t that simple?
