How it works
What to eat with arepas? Split one and fill it, as Venezuela does, or leave it whole beside the plate, as Colombia often does. 31 ideas: fillings, cheese and sauces, breakfasts, soups and plates, and three cold drinks.
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Filled in Venezuela, on the side in Colombia
An arepa is a flat round of maize dough that can be split like a sandwich. In Venezuela big filled arepas are eaten through the day, ham and cheese most of all, and smaller ones sit beside every meal. In Colombia's Paisa region an arepa can come with every meal of the day, and it is one part of the bandeja paisa platter. On the Caribbean coast a common breakfast is an arepa with an egg fried inside.
How to fill one
Split it hot and butter the inside. Add one filling, then one thing to sharpen it: a sauce, avocado or a salty cheese. Wet fillings such as stewed beef or beans go in last.
Questions and answers
What do you eat arepas with?
With whatever fills them. The simplest arepa holds only butter or cheese. Venezuelan cooks add shredded beef, black beans, ham or fish, and the filling of chicken, avocado and mayonnaise is called reina pepiada.
What sauce goes with arepas?
Guasacaca, a Venezuelan sauce of avocado, herbs, onion and green pepper, is served over arepas. Colombia has hogao, long green onions cooked with tomatoes. Suero costeño, a fermented milk condiment like sour cream from Colombia's Caribbean coast, is a third.
What cheese goes in an arepa?
A soft, fresh white one. Queso de mano, much like fresh mozzarella, is most often used as a filling for arepas. Cuajada, a fresh curd cheese, is another, and grated white cheese goes over fried arepas with a fried egg.
What do you eat with arepas for breakfast?
Perico, eggs scrambled with onion and tomato, is a filling for any hour. A Colombian breakfast puts the arepa beside calentao, yesterday's rice and beans reheated, or beside caldo de huevo, an egg and potato broth.
What do you drink with arepas?
Without alcohol: papelón con limón, a Venezuelan drink of raw cane sugar, water and lime that is commonly offered with arepas; chicha, a sweet drink of rice and milk; or a coconut milkshake.