How to Make Arepas

You may have eaten them at a baseball game or when you visited South America last summer. I was raised on arepas, corn-meal cakes stuffed with everything imaginable: from black beans to shark. Originally from Venezuela, each South American country has different variations. This recipe exemplifies how to make Venezuelan arepas.

Most people do not have the right ingredients to make them or either just do not know where to start. So let me enlighten you.

First of all, one must know that arepas can either be baked, grilled, or fried. Then it is cut in half lengthwise, the excess dough is removed, and then it is stuffed. This recipe will lead you up to the point where you decide: Baked, grilled, or fried?

Pre-cooked corn flour "Harina Pan" can be bought at your local supermarket or Latin or Caribbean supermarket. The recipe for how to make arepas is always on the back of the package so one does not have to keep referring back to the internet. The main ingredients are: salt, corn flour "Harina Pan", and lukewarm water. A large mixing bowl is needed to begin.

For every two and a half cups of warm water, two cups of harina pan is needed. This amount yields about 5 arepas. Most people usually can fill themselves up with one, other need two. Multiply the batch as needed. Add salt to the harina pan before adding the water into the bowl. Mix all of the ingredients together with clean hands and make sure to kneed and squish the dough constantly.

Continue until there are no grainy clumps of corn flour in the mix. At this point, begin making the arepa spheres buy grabbing a fist-sized portion of arepa dough and rotating it in a circular motion between your palms. The result should be a thick, disk-like shape. Repeat for however many arepas needed.

The cooking now comes into play.

To fry: Place arepas in hot oil on the stove in a deep caldera. Place the rest of the arepas in carefully as the oil may jump. Fry until golden yellow.

To bake: Place arepas in oven at about 400 Degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes. Bake until golden yellow.

To grill: Place arepas on grill and flip until golden yellow.

Thanks to evolving technology, cooking arepas has become easier with the use of the marketed TostiArepa made by Oster. It resembles a waffle maker, but with round cavities inside the cooking appliance to place the arepas. Cooking time with this machine is about 7 minutes.

Once the arepas are complete, they may be placed in a basket and covered with paper to keep warm. Arepas are eaten with butter and stuffed with either: ham and cheese, shark, black beans and white cheese, meat, scrambled eggs, beef, chicken, pork skin, shellfish, and octopus.

Eat with caution as they are addicting.