Arepas (vegetarian)

I am a vegetarian (almost but not quite vegan) so I eat a lot of whole grains and stuff made from grains. I love anything made from corn.

If you have never had a good Arepa, you don't know what you are missing! I love Arepas. They are a Colombian/Venezuelan corncake that is generally cooked on a griddle. I have had many many Arepas, but all were lacking IMO. Too heavy. Too bland.

So I took the basic Arepa recipe and fooled around with it, and this is the result. These are fast and this recipe doubles easily. The only problem for some might be in finding Arepa flour.

TRY THIS. If you like cornbread, corn tortillas, etc you will like it!

Basic Arepas
Makes TWO (can be doubled, tripled, quadrupled...)

1 cup Arepa flour
(this is a pre-cooked cornmeal sold in Latin markets as "Harina de Maiz". One popular brand name is P.A.N. Regular cornmeal is NOT a substitute, neither is Masa Harina for making corn tortillas. If you can't find this product, you can't make this dish)

1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2-1 tsp Chipotle chile powder (optional)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 cup boiling water

Preheat the oven to 375. Beat the egg lightly in a cup. Mix all the dry ingredients well in a bowl. Add the boiling water to the dry ingred and mix. Add the egg and mix more. Use your hands and gather the dough into a ball. Knead a few times. Separate into two equal pieces. Pat each into a patty about an inch thick.

Heat a non-stick skillet sprayed with cooking spray (or, if you use oil, use it) until hot and brown the patties on each side til a crust just forms.

Bake the patties in a 375 oven for 25 minutes. Slice like an English muffin while warm. If you want to, you can then TOAST the 2 halves in the toaster (this is optional). Top with whatever you like, make into a sandwich, and eat!

My favorite topping is either maduros (fried sweet plantains) or baked butternut squash slices, veggie cheese (mozarella or provolone flavor) and salsa.

Other traditional toppings are black beans and cheese, ropa vieja, cheese and avocado slices, but you can let your imagination pretty much run wild.