Traditional Venezuelan arepas: the corn bread stuffed with reina pepiada chicken and avocado

The arepa is Venezuela's daily bread, eaten at breakfast, lunch, dinner and in the early hours after a party. The native peoples were already making discs of pounded corn baked on stone long before 1492, and the word comes from the Cumanagoto erepa, which means corn.

The revolution came in 1960 with precooked cornmeal, harina P.A.N.: all it took was mixing with water and salt and the arepa was ready in minutes, without pounding or cooking grain. Areperas, restaurants serving arepas with dozens of fillings, became an institution, and the reina pepiada is the queen of them all.

The filling was created in Caracas in 1955 in honor of Susana Duijm, the first Venezuelan crowned Miss World. Pepiada, in the slang of the time, meant beautiful and curvy. Chicken, avocado, mayonnaise and cilantro: simple, creamy and unmistakable.

Recipe card

• Origin: Venezuela
• Category: Stuffed corn bread, snack or meal
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation time: 30 minutes
• Cooking time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 8 arepas

Ingredients — dough

• 2 cups white precooked cornmeal (harina P.A.N. type)
• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon oil, plus a little for the griddle

Ingredients — reina pepiada

• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 1 large ripe avocado, mashed
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 small onion, grated
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

1. In a bowl, dissolve the salt in the warm water and add the cornmeal little by little, mixing by hand.
2. Add the oil and knead for 2 minutes, until the dough is smooth and lump-free. Let rest 5 minutes.
3. Divide into 8 portions, roll into balls and flatten into discs 1.5 cm thick and about 10 cm across, smoothing the edges.
4. Heat a greased skillet or griddle over medium heat and brown the arepas for 6 to 7 minutes per side, until the crust is firm with golden spots.
5. To make sure they cook through, bake at 180 °C (350 °F) for 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, mix the chicken with the avocado, mayonnaise, onion, cilantro, lime, salt and pepper.
7. Slit each arepa along the side with a knife without separating the halves and fill generously.
8. Serve immediately, still hot.

Tips and variations

• The arepa is done when it sounds hollow when tapped with your fingers.
• Dough that cracks at the edges is dry: wet your hands and knead again.
• Other classic fillings: pabellón (shredded beef, black beans, fried plantain and cheese), white cheese with butter, and perico (scrambled eggs with tomato and onion).
• Cooked arepas freeze well: reheat on the griddle straight from the freezer.
• For a lighter version, bake them instead of browning on the griddle.
• Regular cornmeal does not work: it has to be the precooked kind.
• An avocado sauce with chili, guasacaca, is the table companion.

A warm arepa, split open on the spot and full of reina pepiada, explains by itself why Venezuelans miss it wherever they are.