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Arepas with black beans and salsa verde
Serves 4-6 (Makes around 10 arepas) Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 300g fine cornmeal
- 1 heaped tsp sea salt
- 1tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying
For the pickled red onions
- 1 red onion, halved and very thinly sliced
- juice 1 lime
For the black beans
- dash olive oil
- 1tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 small bunch coriander, leaves picked
- 3-4tbsp olive oil
- zest and juice 1 lime
- 1 green chilli
To serve
- few coriander leaves
- small bunch radishes, thinly sliced
- lime wedges
- crumbled feta, to taste
Method
To make the pickled red onions, add the onion to a small bowl with the lime juice and a pinch of sea salt, then scrunch together with your hands so they start to become a bright pink colour. Put to one side to lightly pickle.
To prepare the arepa dough, put the cornmeal, sea salt, oil and 400-450ml boiling water into a bowl. Allow to sit for about 1 minute to allow the water absorb into the cornmeal a little. Then carefully mix the dough with your hands until combined. You want it to come together a bit like Play-Doh (it shouldn’t be crumbly). Allow the dough to rest for at least 5 minutes (or up to 30, if you have time).
To make the black beans, add a little olive oil to a medium- sized frying pan set over a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the cumin seeds, coriander stalks and paprika and cook for 1 minute. Add the black beans with the liquid from the can and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off, then add the green chilli and coriander leaves.
To make the salsa verde, put 30g feta and half the coriander leaves into a food processor with the rest of the ingredients and blitz until you have a deep green, slightly creamy salsa. Season to taste, then set aside.
Once your dough has rested (it should clean the bowl and be easy to work with), pull off golf ball-size pieces and form 8cm x 1cm-thick patties (you should be able to make 10). Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and once hot add the arepas, in batches, then put the lid on and cook on a medium heat for 7 minutes on each side until golden brown on both sides. Transfer each batch to a warm oven while you fry the rest.
Finish the black beans with the chopped green chilli and the coriander leaves. While the arepas are warm, top (or split open and fill) with a spoonful of the black beans, some salsa verde, sliced radishes, pickled red onions, a squeeze of lime juice and a crumble of the remaining feta.
This recipe featured in the May/June 2021 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe, click here.
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