Arepas
Originally found at Whats 4 Eats
2 cups precooked cornmeal**
3 cups warm water
1 tsp salt
assorted toppings
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together the cornmeal and 2 1/2 cups water. Add in salt. Allow to rest for a few minutes while heating a small amount of oil in a skillet. Form the dough into patties roughly the size of your palm. If the edges crack, add more water to the dough. Place in the skillet and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes on each side. Place on baking sheet. Once all patties have been pan fried, place in oven and cook for about 20 minutes, until they sound hollow when tapped.
Break open the arepa with a fork and fill with assorted toppings. Popular combinations include butter; cheese and black beans; chicken with salsa verde; etc. Have fun.
My Notes:
**Precooked cornmeal is necessary for this recipe. It is similar to masa, but is not the same. It should say somewhere on the package that it is precooked. The brand name I found was PAN, but it is not certified kosher (if that matters to you). I found it in the Hispanic Foods section of my local grocery store, so it doesn't necessarily require a special trip.
My Cuban friend introduced me to arepas when we were down in Miami prior to our cruise vacation. We had them with queso blanco with her, and then had them from a Venezuelan bakery for breakfast prior to departure. I didn't think much of them until I was going through my recipes and ran across one I had saved from the NYT, a selection of vegetarian sandwiches to use leftovers from Thanksgiving. The first recipe there used an arepa as the sandwich bread, so I went to the store and got the ingredients to make arepas. Of course, I forgot cheese, so I was going to use the Pepper Jack I had on hand, only to realize that it was covered in mold. So I had to use mozzarella. Not especially traditional, but still good.
Note that these don't keep well, so they're best served fresh out of the oven. If you take a while making the dough, you'll have to add water to it, as it will harden if it sits out too long.
