Arepa is a type of "sandwich" made from pre-cooked maize, filled with a delicious and simple filling, eaten in the northern region of South America! These Venezuelan Arepas (Reina Pepiada) are so vibrant and tasty, you're going to love them!
The Simple Dough
To make this flavourful and vibrant sandwich, you'll need three ingredients for the dough:
- Pre-cooked maize flour (cornmeal) - I bought from the brand P.A.N.
- Salt
- Water
Combine the three ingredients in a large bowl, knead for a few minutes and then set it aside for about 10 minutes while you make your filling.
Tear off small pieces of dough (you should make around 6 Arepas), and roll them into balls. You might want to wet one hand slightly to form a perfect ball. Use the underside of a flat plate/dish/jar and press down on the ball of dough to form it into a disc. The Arepa should be around 2-3 inches in diameter. Repeat this process for all of your pieces of dough.
Place a frying pan on medium heat, drizzle it with oil and then place in your Venezuelan Arepas. Fry on each side for 5 minutes or until golden and slightly brown. Remove them and slice them open (not all the way through though, you want the back to still be attached).
The Tasty Venezuelan Arepa Style Filling
Okay, WOW. This avocado chicken filling is to die for! I would honestly eat it on its own every day. It's SO good.
There is an array of filling possibilities for Arepas, however because we are specifically making Venezuelan-style arepas, we will be making Reina Pepiada. It literally translates to "curvy queen" and is the traditional filling commonly eaten with Arepas on a daily basis in Venezuela.
The ingredients for our Venezuelan Arepa filling are:
- Shredded chicken
- Avocado
- Red onion
- Garlic
- Red chilli
- Mayonaise
- Coriander/Cilantro
- Lime
- Salt
- Pepper
For the chicken, all you need to do is place one breast into a pan of boiling water and simmer on very low heat for 15-20 minutes. Then, remove the breast, leave it to cool, and shred it to your hearts content.
Check Out My Sandwich World Tour Series
I set myself a challenge to explore and share sandwiches from around the world. Why? Because there is an abundance of sandwiches on this earth with their own unique fillings, bread type, and condiments. From the Francesinha in Portugal to Vada Pan in India, sandwiches are a way for us to encase flavours that we love in order to enjoy them wherever we may be.
Check out some more sandwich recipes below!
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Not all my dumpling recipes are up on my website, yet! So, if you’d like to check them out, head on over to my Instagram for the video tutorial and full recipe!
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Venezuelan Arepas (Reina Pepiada)
Ingredients Â
For The Dough
- 200 g pre-cooked maize flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 200 ml water
For The Filling
- 1 chicken breast
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1 red onion, finely sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 red chilli, finely sliced
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- 1 bunch coriander, roughly chopped
- ½ lime, juiced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Other
- Handful of grated cheddar cheese
InstructionsÂ
For The Arepas
- Combine the dough ingredients in a large bowl. The dough should be a soft but not stick to your hands. Add more water if the dough is too dry. Knead for one minute and then set aside for 10 minutes while you make the filling.
- After the dough has rested, tear off 6 pieces of dough. Lightly wet one hand and form each piece of dough into circular small-ish balls. Grab a flat surfaced object (jar/dish/plate), place the ball underneath the object and flatten the Arepa down until it's about ½ inch thick. The disc should be around 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Repeat this process for all of the pieces of dough.
- Grab a pan and place it on medium heat. Drizzle with oil and then place in your arepas. Fry for 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Remove from the heat and slice open, leaving part of the arepa still sealed. Your arepas are now ready to be filled!
For The Filling
- Place your chicken breast into a pan of salted boiling water. Simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes and then remove, leave to cool, and pull apart into small pieces.
- In a large bowl, add all of your filling ingredients and mash to fully combine into a green, chickeny mixture!
Assembling the Venezuelan Arepas
- Get you arepas and fill them with a spoonful of filling. Fill with a generous pinch of cheddar cheese and then serve up and enjoy! The video tutorial is on my Instagram!
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