Naturally gluten free arepas bun with the possibility to taste the whole world in it. Fill it with vegetables, meat or salad and have a bite on the go!
The worst thing in going gluten free is the sinking feeling when we realize, there won’t be any pasta, pizza or burger on the road for us anymore. No more gorging on street food except by an occasional bunless thing begged with shining eyes from a pitying hawker.
Worst even when we go on keto or any low carb diet. It’s like catapulting ourselves from the society without having a farewell party. Secretly we hope that no-one will notice that we’ve gone thus we can avoid any explanations and numerous eye-rolls.
They say that after the worst things good will follow. Well, this must be true as by definition after the worst thing, it can’t be worse only better. Life’s little play is that unfortunately we never know when we hit rock bottom and when we are still sinking.
The feeling could be compared to accepting that there won’t be any fast food on the go anymore but still we can enjoy a bunless burger wrapped in savoy cabbage, only to learn our favorite sauce has gluten in it, not the mention the frozen patty.
Things like these are the last nails in the coffin of our old gluten filled lives. The last strings that kept our sanity hanging over the unknown depth of uncertainty and tastelessness.
When those strings snap, we are finally falling free and if we aren’t trying to desperately catch the rope again, we will learn flying to an exciting new world where we can glide through thousand years old traditions and flavors.
Arepas is at least 3000 years old traditional dish originating somewhere from Columbia and Venezuela. It is still widely consumed today, there mainly unchanged from the original recipe. Save some preservatives that are added to the commercially available versions but that goes without saying.
The recipe is almost blatantly simple, once we can get our hands on the main ingredient the cornmeal flour. Without cornmeal flour it is a pretty daunting task to prepare arepas as we would have to mill the maize then cook and dry it out again.
Luckily this process is industrialized and little to none artificial ingredients are added to the cornmeal flour during the production providing us a healthy base for any dish. Making the arepa from cornmeal flour is as easy as mixing it together with a bit of salt and water then frying a bit and then baking them.
It can be done by only frying or baking but combining the two methods fastens up the process while reduces the need of deep frying.
Some recipes like to include eggs, butter or milk but that is the question of personal preference and doesn’t modify the texture or the flavor significantly.
Especially not after the bun is stuffed with some juicy filling. There are countless options to choose from here ranging from all vegan avocados and roasted vegetables to various meat fillings with natural sauce and salad.
Saying the arepas are superior to burgers wouldn’t fly for someone who is bred and grown on gluten since started to chew. Nevertheless, Arepas are versatile buns that deserve to be on the same level as the staple of western cuisine with its fillings ability to reach previously unbeknown summits.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cup Water (tepid)
- 2 cup Cornmeal flour
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Oil
- Optional:
- Butter
- Egg
- Milk instead of water
How to make arepas
- Mix the ingredients in a bowl by hand until the dough comes together into a ball. If it sticks to the hand or the side of the bowl, add more flour to it. If it seems dry and falling apart, add more water to it.
- Add oil to the dough ball and knead it further.
- Flatten the dough into a circle shape.
- Divide the dough into eight equal parts.
- Make balls from the eight dough parts.
- Flatten the dough balls into ½ ” / 1.5cm tall circles. This would yield about 4″/10cm wide circles.
- With an oily hand rub together the cracks on the side of the dough if present.
- Pour oil into a pan and fry one side of the circle shaped dough on medium heat. It takes about 5 minutes to achieve a golden brown color and hard outer layer.
- Flip over the dough and fry the other side as well.
- When both sides are done place them into the oven for 10 – 15 minutes on 350°F / 180°C.
- Fill with any filling of choice.
This would yield about 4″/10cm wide circles.
Enjoy.
F.A.Q.
What is arepa flour made of?
Arepa flour is made of pre-cooked corn as known as Harina de maiz refinada, precocida. Mind not to mix it up with corn starch which is Harina fina de maiz because that will not make arepas ever.
What goes good with arepas?
Avocado, purple onion and a bit of olive oil fits exceptionally well with it but there are no hard set rules. Anything that goes good with sandwiches, burgers will go fine with arepas.
FitttZee
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Arepas Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cup Water tepid
- 2 cup Cornmeal flour
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Oil
- Optional:
- - Butter
- - Egg
- - Milk instead of water
Instructions
- Mix the ingredients in a bowl by hand until the dough comes together into a ball. If it sticks to the hand or the side of the bowl, add more flour to it. If it seems dry and falling apart, add more water to it.
- Add oil to the dough ball and knead it further.
- Flatten the dough into a circle shape.
- Divide the dough into eight equal parts.
- Make balls from the eight dough parts.
- Flatten the dough balls into ½ " / 1.5cm tall circles. This would yield about 4"/10cm wide circles.
- With an oily hand rub together the cracks on the side of the dough if present.
- Pour oil into a pan and fry one side of the circle shaped dough on medium heat. It takes about 5 minutes to achieve a golden brown color and hard outer layer.
- Flip over the dough and fry the other side as well.
- When both sides are done place them into the oven for 10 - 15 minutes on 350°F / 180°C.
- Fill with any filling of choice.
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Cool!
Cool gluten free bun recipe! Thanks!
Happy to see you like it!
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