Food Friday: First Time Trying Arepas!

 When our daughter returned from her mission in Venezuela she brought home a number of recipes.  I remember one of them was Arepas.  I totally forgot about them for years BUT this week I was watching Kim Campbell on Plant Pure TV on YouTube.  She made arepas!  They popped back into my mind immediately.  Since they are made of cooked corn flour, I thought they might be better for us.  So I tried them.

You need to use arepa flour. I found Pan flour in the Hispanic section at Food Lion.  This is a finer grind of flour than the Maseca Flour or Masa Harina flour that you use for making tortillas.

What I did:

Heated up 2 cups water so it was quite warm but not hot since I needed to put my hands in the bowl.

With the water in the bowl I should have added a teaspoon of salt but failed to do so. Then I sort of sifted in the Pan a little at a time and stirred with my fingers to keep the lumps to a minimum.  Eventually all the Pan was added and I more or less kneaded the dough into a smooth ball.  Sort of like Play Doh.

At this point, because I was anxious to get rolling, I divided the dough into balls, pressed them into about 1/2 inch thick rounds then placed them on a 350 degrees F. electric griddle that my sister kindly gave me last year.  (I LOVE that griddle.). I understand you can cover the bowl with plastic and let the Pan absorb more of the water.  I did not wait for that.

Let the arepas cook for about 5 minutes then flip them over for another five minutes.  Put them into a 350 degree F. preheated oven for about 15 minutes so the inside will cook a little more and they puff ever so slightly.

When they are cool enough to hold, using a knife, put a slit in them and fill with whatever you like, I put beans and rice in the first one.  The second one I put in strawberry jam.  They were both good.

This a picture of one of the arepas with beans and rice inside...

Dear One said they were too bland.  My fault for failing to put in salt. He did not try one with a filling.  They look a lot like English muffins.  I think that put him off.  He LOVES English muffins!   Oh well.  More for me.  I did confer with Dear Daughter and learned that indeed a little salt is VERY beneficial when making arepas.  She made of bunch of them, too!

And it does seem to help the blood sugar, I am happy to report.  Even with the jam.  Of course, I did not eat a dozen of them...