Arepas!

Disclaimer: this is just a picture I got of the web, but I like that it showed the correct flour to use.

OK...my friend Adriana taught me how to make Venezuelan Arepas the other day and they were amazing! They are basically a delicious corn-flour-patty that you cut in half and stuff with meat, veggies, eggs, beans...you get the idea. We had shredded marinated chicken and then this unreal creamy sauce stuffed in our arepas. Adriana has shared the recipe, so here it is:

Pollo "Esmechao" (That is the Maracucho slang way of saying shredded)
- Chicken Breasts
- Onion
- Green and Yellow Bell Peppers
- Chives
- Leeks
- Minced Garlic
- Parsley
- Tomato
- Chicken Bouillon and Cilantro Bouillon
- Mustard
- Thick Soy Sauce
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Pepper Salt as needed (maybe even a dash of cumin might be good)
- A splash of Chicken Stock to maintain moisture - if needed

Boil/crock pot chicken breasts with the Maracucho Chicken Bouillon I gave you the night before preferably. After it cools, shred the chicken. Cut up all your onion, peppers, and tomatoes sort of in the same proportions, maybe splurge on the onion a bit. Then also cut up the leeks, parsley, mince the garlic.

Stir fry in some canola oil on medium heat, first the onions, then the peppers, leeks, and chives, after add the garlic and parsley with the cilantro bouillon, cover for a little bit until it softens, then add the chicken and season with the rest of the ingredients. Stir everything up. Then cover and simmer while you make the arepas. Add chicken stock if needed to maintain the chicken semi-wet.

Arepas Ingredients:
Harina Pan (The yellow package with the Lady on the front, don't get any other brand! This is the best one... )
Salt
Room Temperature Butter
Warm Water

Preheat oven to 400F
In a medium sized bowl add warm-hot water. Then add room temperature butter, and swirl around with your hands slowly as it melts into the water. Then add salt (and go tasting it, it can be on the slightly saltier side). Then slowly pour some Harina Pan in the water, and mix with hands in a circular motion, until reaching the desired consistency which is a manageable masa but still soft. Let sit for a little bit Like 2-3 minutes.

You can either have a pot boiling and add the formed arepas to it, and save for later.

Fire up the griddle, (put a coating of oil, I don't like it too oily, but put enough so it doesn't stick... use the paper towel method to sweep up excess oil) and place the formed arepas there until there is a nice golden exterior (even a little burning is yummy too), and then place in the oven. Flip over the arepas once or twice... and bake until the arepa say, "Papa" hahahahahahahaha.

Salsa Verde
Remember you can store this in plastic or glass container in the fridge for a little under a month, so feel free to make a big batch.

Ingredients:
- Leeks
- Chives
- Onion
- Parsley
- Celery
- Cilantro Bouillon
- Good amount of garlic
- Mayo (That one you brought with a touch of lime probably made it yummier)
- A touch of mustard
- Salt and Pepper

Put all the veggies and aromatics in the food processor or blender, then add mayonnaise, mustard, salt, cilantro seasoning, and pepper until reaching the consistency. Then store it and enjoy!!