Arepa Of Corn

The arepa is a traditional dish from Colombia, Venezuela and Panama. It is made from corn or corn flour. The arepa is also called tortilla, bun or changa.

You can prepare your arepa with flour or with raw corn, also called corn. This last preparation is the most traditional and its result is more delicious.
On the other hand, arepas can be consumed alone, accompanied, as in a Colombian paisa tray, or with various fillings, such as shredded meat, cheese, etc.

Be that as it may, they are an authentic delight, a discovery that we are going to show you to try by making the following recipe and traveling to South America with its flavor.
To start with, the first thing you need to learn is how to make the dough. As we are talking about tradition, we are going to show you the original recipe based on raw corn.

Corn arepa dough 

Ingredients

• Dry white corn
• Oaxaca-type firm dry cheese
• Water
• Salt
• Oil

Preparation

• Soak a packet of dried white corn in water for several hours.
• Then bring the soaked corn to a boil with the same water that was soaked.
• Once it boils, cook the dry white corn until it reaches a semi-soft consistency. This consistency is checked by picking a pimple on the fingers. We must squeeze and break easily.
• Grate the dry cheese. Put it in a large bowl.
• With an electric grinder, grind the boiled corn. Put the bowl with the grated cheese underneath, so that the ground corn falls on top of it.
• Once everything is ground, we will knead it with our hands, until it is mixed well and a dough is formed. If necessary, add a little water where you had boiled the corn, so that the dough takes consistency.
• Optionally, you can add a pinch of salt and oil, and it will take an even greater consistency.
• Wet your hands and grab an arepa dough ball. Pass it from hand to hand, making a flat shape, like an omelette. Shape the edges. Reserve on a plate with plastic wrap.

• Repeat the process to create several corn arepas until the dough is gone.
• You can also knead the corn arepa by squashing it between plates with plastic wrap.
• The corn arepa can be cooked fried, roasted or grilled. They can also be used as buns, wraps or sorullos.
• You can keep the excess corn arepa dough, creating a large ball, covering it with plastic wrap and storing it in the fridge.

Stuffed corn arepa

The corn arepa alone is delicious. If we also add a filling, it becomes an authentic and delicious madness. The best known filling is shredded meat, but there are multiple options.

Next, we are going to show you how to make the shredded meat to fill a corn arepa.

Filling for the corn arepa  

Ingredients

• Mince
• York ham
• Butter
• Water
• Oaxaca cheese
• Half an onion
• Salt
• 2 tomatoes
• Pepper

Preparation

Once we have our corn arepas made according to the recipe above, it’s time to cook them.
We put oil in a pan and fry them one by one. We reserve on a plate on absorbent paper.

Then, we make the filling:

• First, in a hot pan, put butter. Pour in the diced tomato and onion. Sauté.
• Then add the minced meat to the tomato and onion and simmer for 5 or 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• To finish, dice the Oaxaca cheese and the York ham.

Fill out:

Once the arepa is cooked and golden on both sides, it’s time to fill it:

• Take an arepa with a paper napkin. With the help of a knife, open it halfway and with the help of a knife.
• Add the sautéed minced meat, Oaxaca cheese and ham in equal parts.
• Repeat with the other corn arepas.
• Sauté the stuffed corn arepa again in the pan. One minute on each side.
• Take them out, put them on the plate and add a little more butter and a pinch of salt on top.

And enjoy South America!