AREPA CON QUESO RECIPE

Arepas are the daily bread of Venezuelans and Colombians. They can be eaten at all times of the day, sometimes topped as a toast and others filled as a sandwich. The recipe for Arepas is very simple as it only contains 3 ingredients: Precooked Corn Flour, water and Salt. They are typically cooked on a griddle or "budare" and then baked for 15 minutes, but you can also purchase them frozen/ready-to-toast (and save 30 minutes of your day) at our website www.justtoastit.com !

If you are feeling like a little Martha Stewart, and decide to make Arepas from scratch, here's how to nail them:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Precooked Corn Flour

• 2 1/2 cups of Water at room temperature

• 1 tsp of salt

• 2 tbsp of Olive Oil (to spray the griddle)

Preparation:

• Pour the water into a large bowl. Make sure it is at room temperature

• Add the salt. Blend well with a mixer, fork or spatula to make sure it dissolves well

• While you continue to beat the mixture, slowly add the corn meal

• Once all the flour is added, keep mixing until the corn meal, water and salt are fully integrated and dissolved

• Set the masa aside and let it rest for 5 minutes. Corn flour does not have any gluten, so it doesn’t need to be kneaded. The masa should be smooth, firm yet malleable

• Heat your griddle or oven at 400F and Coat with a little bit of olive oil

• Take about 2 Tbsp. of the masa in your damp hands and create a round patty

• Place the patty on your oven, griddle or nonstick pan. Let each side turn golden( about 5 minutes per side)

• Serve them hot with cheese, meat, avocado or anything you can think of, enjoy!