Arepa Reina Pepiada

This breakfast dish always reminds me of Sunday morning trips to the beach. My family would stop in a small corner place near the sea and order arepas of all types of flavors, which would always come accompanied with some garlic or avocado sauce.
Since then this dish has been one of my favorite comfort foods, and that’s the reason why I chose it as my first entry on this blog.

There are no fancy tricks or expensive equipment involved in this recipe. Just some lovely corn flour, a couple of simple ingredients, and your hands.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

2 cups corn flour (PAN*)

4 cups warm water 

Salt to taste 

For the filling:

1 ripe avocado*

400gr chicken

3 spoons mayonnaise

1 garlic clove

1 onion 

Salt and pepper 

Method

You won’t believe how easy and fast it is to make the arepa dough. Just combine the water with salt and then add the corn flour, mix really well until your dough reaches the consistency of clay. Let rest for 5 minutes, and you are ready to start forming arepas. 

First separate the dough in balls the size of a tennis ball.

Gently flatten the balls until they are a finger thick and around 8 cm wide.

Depending on your taste and diet, you can now either cook them in a pan with a bit of oil at medium heat for around 14 minutes, flipping them several times, or deep fry them until golden. 

For the filling:

Boil the chicken in a pot filled with water with some salt till the flesh starts coming off the bones. Remove it from the water, let cool and shred the meat with your hands.

Fry the minced onions and garlic in a pan with a bit of oil until translucent.

Add the chicken and combine well. 

Season with salt and pepper.

Cool down the chicken mixture and add the avocado. Mix well until you reach a creamy consistency.

Now that we have the filling and the arepa ready we just need to fill it up. Slice the the arepa lengthwise with a knife and add as much filling as you want. 

I hope you all enjoy this arepa as much as I do. 

*Notes:

• Make sure you find the right brand of corn flour (PAN) because the texture is not the same with other brands.

• It’s important that your avocado is ripe for the final result to be creamy and soft.