Venezuelan Arepa de Pabellon Criollo Recipe
The Venezuelan arepas de pabellón recipe is a traditional Venezuelan dish. The arepa, a corn flour-based dish, is served with small amounts of shredded meat, beans, cheese, slices of ripe plantain and other ingredients.
Ingredients
For the arepa dough
- 4 cups Warm or not cold water
- 4 cups Precooked corn flour
- 1/4 cda Salt
Para la carne mechada
- 1 cda Butter or edible oil
- 1 Unit Large onion chopped in small pieces
- 3 cloves Crushed garlic
- 1 Unit Red or green bell pepper chopped in small pieces
- 2 Unit Ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 Kg Meat for larding - skirt cut
- 1 cups Broth in which the meat was cooked
- 1 Unit Cilantro branch
- 1 cda Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cda Tomato paste
- 1 pizca Cumin
- 1 cda Salt
- 1 pizca Pepper
- 1 cda Prepared Mustard
For the slices
- 1 Unit Ripe banana
- 1 cups Edible oil
For the Caraotas
- 2 cups Caraotas fritas
Instructions
Preparation of dough and arepas
- We are going to prepare "Arepas Viudas", which are corn flour arepas without filling, following the most used recipe for arepas in Venezuela.
- The first thing to do is to put the water in a bowl with enough capacity to knead comfortably. Then add salt to taste and little by little the corn flour. Stir continuously to prevent lumps from forming.
- Before the next step, we can let the mixture rest so that the flour absorbs the water. This will depend on the flour you use and once it has rested you will realize if you need to add more water, flour or just start kneading.
- Knead until the dough is smooth and does not stick. Divide the dough into equal portions and form the dough balls as the beginning of the arepas. With both hands moistened, circular movements and some pressure we will create the arepas. Cook in a greased pan or frying pan for about 6 minutes per side and that's it.
Preparation of Carne Mechada
- For the preparation of the meat we will use the recipe for arepas with shredded meat that we published previously.
- We begin by parboiling the selected meat to be able to cook it later, if you have a pressure cooker it is much faster. Place the meat in the water with some salt and a chopped onion.
- Cook until the meat is tender enough to grill. Remove from heat and let cool a little to be able to grill, which you can do with your hands or with the help of a fork.
- Now let's give the carne mechada a touch of taste. Put a good sized frying pan over medium-low heat until it is hot. Add a tablespoon of butter or oil, then an onion chopped in small pieces, stir well to avoid burning and fry for a few minutes. Add the crushed garlic to this mixture.
- Place the shredded meat in the pan, also the chopped paprika and the tomatoes. Stir and mix well. Add the cup of broth and add all the remaining ingredients: coriander, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, pinch of cumin, salt, pepper and mustard.
- Cook over low heat for about 20 minutes and reserve for stuffing.
Preparation of slices
- The slices are made with ripe plantain preferably, when the plantain is green the result is the tostones. Chop the plantain into not so thin slices and place in a frying pan over medium heat with plenty of oil. Be careful not to burn them, which usually happens very quickly.
Preparation of the Caraotas
- The black beans or black beans, have a process in their preparation. For the filling of these arepas, it is best to use previously made beans and fry them to remove the broth and leave them as a cream. They will be spectacular.
Filling the arepas
- Having all the ingredients ready we start filling the arepas. Open the arepas and spread some butter on them. Then we place the shredded meat.
- Little by little we place the beans, the slices, we can add the cheese. Optionally we can add an egg, which is part of the expanded pavilion.
- The sauces are optional, as is the spiciness, it depends on the taste of each person. I hope you enjoy your Venezuelan Arepa de Pabellon Criollo.
