Arepas

Arepas are a delicious South American street food delicacy. A pouch of soft, pillowy dough which you can fill with any number of delicious extras like cheese, pork, refried beans, or even sweet fillings.  Not only are arepas a delicious treat, but they are also very easy to make. 

The secret ingredient 

Arepas only have 3 ingredients but given that two of those ingredients are water and salt, they only really have one ingredient – so you’ll want to make sure you get the best version of it. 

Whether or not you can make great arepas will depend on whether you can get hold of masarepa. Masarepa is the key ingredient in arepas and is a precooked and ground corn meal. The best brand to use is P.A.N. (the white maize variety). 

You can order P.A.N. online but it will often be 3 -5 times the price that it would be in a Mexican grocer. If you have an ethnic food shop or very large supermarket near you, they should stock it. In theory, you can use any cornmeal to make arepas, but in practice I’ve yet to find a brand other than P.A.N. which is ground fine enough. Many of the other brands end up having too much of “grainy” quality.