Monday, March 8, 2010

Arepas with Chicken and Avocado Filling

I'm a huge fan of arepas. Eating these took me back to when I was in Venezuela several years ago. These are very popular in Venezuela. Arepas are made from masarepa blanca or white corn meal. The taste resembles cornbread. Aubrey told me that it smelled like cornbread in the house while these were in the oven.
My only issue with this recipe is that the recipe seemed to call for too much water. I probably used half of the amount while making these so I could form them into patties with my hands. Maybe I used the wrong kind of meal???
The filling was so delicious. I used rotisserie chicken breasts, and Aubrey and I munched on another avocado while cooking. He makes an amazing dip for the avocados (maybe I'll share the simple dip recipe on a later date).



Ingredients:

Filling
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded into bite size pieces
1 ripe avocado, halved, pitted, and cut into small chunks
2 Tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
2 scallions, sliced thin
juice of half a lime
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Arepas
2 cups masarepa blanca (precooked corn flour- white corn meal can be subbed)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups warm water (I used about 1 cup)
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

Filling
Mix all of the ingredients together and adjust seasonings to taste. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.

Arepas
Preheat oven to 400-degrees.

Whisk the masarepa, salt, and baking powder together in a medium bowl. Gradually add the water and stir to form a dough. Using a generous 1/3 cup of dough, form eight 3-inch rounds, each about 1/2-inch thick.

Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until simmering. Add 4 of the corn cakes and cook until golden on both sides, about 4-6 minutes total. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet, and repeat with remaining oil and corn cakes.

Bake until the corn cakes sound hollow when tapped on bottom, about 10-15 minutes. Split the cakes open using a fork or paring knife as you would an English muffin, and stuff each with a generous 3 Tablespoons of filling. Serve immediately.

Source: Pink Parsley

1 comment:

Meg said...

Yum....Makes me remember the trip to Maricaibo, too! Those were some good memories, and I hope that we left a legacy that made God happy! I never knew how these were made, but I guess they're do-able even in Alabama! :-) Filling sounds good, too. The smoothness of the avacado with the eexture of the chicken and corn sounds good. Illu mucho.