Arepas are a basic part of the Colombian diet. We eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it’s our style street food and we believe our mother makes the best version of it. In short we LOVE arepas, they are so versatile and a great replacement for bread when you feel like mixing things up a bit.
Several regions and have different styles and even every household has their own way of making this national dish and how they combine it. This is my mom’s recipe and for me of course this is the absolute best way to make “plain” them.
This in my opinion is the best brand, there are very many brands but any can work as long as what you get is “Pre-cooked white corn flour”
They are perfect for the whole family and definitely recommend you try them out at least once.
- 1 1/4 cups Water
- 1 cup Arepa flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbs butter
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (or any kind of melting cheese), grated
- optional
- 1 egg
- 1 slice ham
- 1 slice cheese
- 1. Heat the water until it feels warm to the touch.
- 2. Add half the butter and salt and dissolve.
- 3. Slowly add the flour stirring as you go,
- 4. Add the cheese half way through the flour.
- 5. When the dough comes together easily, with your, hands mix thoroughly to make sure all the flour has integrated into the dough. The dough does not need any kneading.
- 6. Let the dough rest for about 5min. The dough will continue to absorb water so leave the dough slightly wet.
- 7. Make small fist sized ball, and a piece of thick plastic or a silicon sheet, press them until are about 1.5 cm thick.
- 8. With your fingers round the edges so they are smooth and pretty.
- 9. Add the rest of the butter to a hot pan and allow butter to melt.
- 10. Carefully place the arepas in the melted butter and cook at medium heat for about 10 minutes on each side. You can tell when a side is done if the arepa doesn't stick to the pan and you can move it around by tilting the pan slightly. It should get a nice golden crust on each side.
- To serve, top the arepa with ham and cheese and fried eggs or serve as compliment to scrambled eggs.