Venezuela's Flatbread - Arepa
Arepa is a flat, round, unleavened patty of soaked ground kernels of maize, or nowadays maize meal/maize flour or pre-cooked corn flour. It is a pre-Columbian dish from the area that is now Colombia and Venezuela. It is grilled, baked, fried, boiled or steamed. It can be topped or filled with meat, eggs etc. I made this using cornmeal which says Masarepa, which is pre-cooked cornmeal. I took the original recipe from here. We enjoyed this yummy Arepa's as a pizza. I simply topped it up with my homemade pizza sauce. My son eats it as a sandwich by spreading some Home Made 2 Ingredients Hazelnut Chocolate Butter.
Traditionally arepa dough is made by soaking dried corn and then mashing the soaked corn in a special mortar and pestle. Modern arepas are made using special masa flour, masarepa, specific to arepas. Masarepa is not the same thing as masa harina (which you may be familiar with if you've ever made tortillas or tamales). Masarepa is typically easy to find in Latin markets.
The masarepa is made into a dough with just a small amount of water and oil. You can adjust the dough slightly as you are mixing it, adding a little more water or flour as needed until the dough holds together. Resting the dough for 10-15 minutes before shaping helps the flour to absorb the water and easier to shape and it cooks faster. As said earlier, they can be baked, fried or grilled but best is to cook them on a flat griddle. A cast iron griddle will work best , but a nonstick pan is also fine. They can be eaten for breakfast or as a main course meal or as a snack or side in lunch. You can top it with fresh meats or cheese or just make a chocolate sandwich and enjoy.
So here goes the recipe:
Venezuela's Flatbread - Arepa
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Ingredients
- 2 cup Arepa Flour (precooked cornmeal)
- 2 teaspoon Vegetable Oil
- Salt
- Desired toppings of your choice
- 1-2 cup Lukewarm Water
Instructions
- Combine Arepa flour, 1 teaspoon oil and salt in a medium bowl. Gradually add the lukewarm water and mix everything.
- Do not add more water, Add only if needed. You should be able to combine everything and form a dough like.
- Let the dough hydrate for 15 minutes or so.
- Knead dough and divide into equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then flatten it with your palm to form a ½ inch thick patty.
- Heat 1 teaspoon oil on a pan, and cover and cook on slow the Arepa's on both the side until golden brown.
- Do not rush, we need the Arepa's to be cooked from inside, so slow cooking and covering the pan is must.
- Repeat the above steps for the remaining Arepa's.
- Split the Arepa's and stuff with the fillings of your choice.
Notes
Recipes in this series of A-Z International FlatBreads
B- Boxty - Irish Potato FlatBread
F-Farinata Genovese : Ligurian Chickpea Flatbread
G- Gözleme (Turkish Flatbread with Potato, Spinach, Mint and Feta Cheese)
H- Harcha (Moroccan FlatBread)
I - Injera (Ethiopian FlatBread)
K-Knäckebröd - Swedish Multi-Seed Crispbread
L- Lachuch (Yemenite FlatBread)
M-Manakish Za'atar (Levantine Flatbread)
N-Noni Afghani (Afghan Flatbread)
O-Omani Maldouf - A FlatBread made with Dates
T-Tiganopsomo - The Greek version of fried bread
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love cornmeal so i be this would be delicious. thanks for sharing another great looking recipe.
Joy at The Joyous Living
Arepas are in my to do list since a long, am yet to try them at home. You have nailed them prefectly. Venezuelas flatbreads with those toppings looks too good and super tempting.
Those arepas look fabulous....make me drool. I could have them all with a cup of tea!
Wow! I need to look for this Masarepa flour next time around. These arepas sound very interesting.
These arepas look similar to English muffins, but using unleavened dough is really interesting. They look so good and I love the idea of using pizza sauce as the filling.
Love this bread... eeven you can serve this bread as burger.. love it.
These Arepas look really tasty Renu! They do remind me of English muffins a bit but I do like how much easier they are to make . Serving them as mini pizzas sounds good to me too 🙂 Than you for sharing with #BakingCrumbs 🙂
ps. Just a little reminder to include the link in your post to #BakingCrumbs 😉
Thank you, Added the link in the badge.
They look like a treat to me ! Little cute breads with those toppings . The very idea of gluten free is enough to try this bread . Thanks am forever in search of such unique recipes .
Awesome pick and share !
I am sure kids will love these topped with different toppings. And on top this being a gluten free is surely a must to make for the kids..good pick!
Super duper flatbread, perfectly made. Its on my list for a long time but haven't made it as yet because I don't get the Harina. Wonder if the yellow maize flour we use for makki ki roti would work.
Thank you, yes the yellow maize should work.
I would love to have these with the hazelnut spread and a cup of coffee! Nice bread Renu.
wow girl, such a name Arepa of this flatbread. In the linkytool I thought who is this girl named Arepa in our group :)). Bread came out really nice. Looks very tasteful.
I have to try arepas sometime soon. In fact I still have to make all the pan fried breads. This looks so good and a great way to begin the day.
These sound so yummy Renu, and another bake that you've introduced me too to 🙂 Thankyou for continuing to share with #Baking Crumbs,
Angela x