I live near a lot of grocery stores. When I get out of the tube, to the left on the corner is a Sainsbury local and to the right on the corner is a Tesco metro. Just a short walk away from that is a full sized Waitrose – but before I even get to that there are a few small independent market and a new organic market. And the truth is, I go to all of them. If I need something quick I’ll go near the tube. If I want a proper shop I’ll go to Waitrose. And if I’m feeling curious, then the organic market. It’s a little bit of overkill, but when I can’t find an ingredient at one place, it helps to have so many others.

Recently, I discovered yet another place that’s also close to my flat but off the main street. It’s French themed, they bake their own bread, and the place smells amazing. I went there because after going everywhere else I couldn’t find basil for blueberry basil lemonade. They didn’t have basil, but they did have platanos. Platanos in Spanish – plantains in English. And not just green plantains, which I kind find easily enough, but they had perfect, soft, ripe, black plantains. Or, in spanish – platanos maduros. 

Now getting excited about wrinkly dark plantains might sound weird. If it was a banana, I wouldn’t eat it and I’d be thinking about banana bread. But dark plantains are my favorite. Why? Because it reminds me of my family. These plantains are so soft and sweet, which green plantains are not. And also, this recipe is so flippin easy to cook. Seriously, if you’ve thought about learning to cook Puerto Rican or Latin American foods this is where to start.

I was also really excited by the plantains because even though I have half a dozen grocery stores at my disposal I have a hard time finding Latin American foods here in London. I’ve done some searching and found there are a few specialty shops – but I still haven’t found anyone that sells Goya brands. How is a girl supposed to live without her pinto beans and arroz con gandules?! So anyway, it’s nice when I can find the ingredients and flavors that remind me of home cooking from my parents.

It is easy to double or triple this recipe, just buy as many plantains as you want. I used two plantains and that makes about 3 servings if everyone has 4 slices. This recipe is best right after cooking, but the plantains are just fine reheated in the microwave the next day. Eat as a snack, or serve with a big plate of rice, beans, and arepas.

Messy level: This is the lowest maintenance cooking and cleaning ever. You need two ingredients, a knife, a cutting board, and a pan. One spoon all the way.

Platanos Maduros (Sweet Fried Plantains)

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

• 2 plantains
• vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Cut both ends off the plantains. Using a knife, score the skin lengthwise on two sides. Then, slowly peel the skin off the plantains. Plantains don't peel like bananas, so these instructions are important and will help you easily get the skin off.
2. Cut the plantain flesh into slices on the diagonal. [I don't know why this is the established method, you could do it lengthwise or in coins, but for some reason it's always done this way.]
3. In a large pan, heat about ¼ inch of oil on medium-high heat. Heat until the oil is very hot. Test this by flicking a little water into the oil. If it pops and sizzles then your oil is ready.
4. In batches, add the plantains to the oil. (I did about 6 slices at a time) It's important to do this in batches so you don't make the oil temperature drop too much.
5. Fry the plantains for about 2-4 minutes on each side. They are done when they are a little bit browned and look kind of caramelized.
6. Remove plantains from the pan and place them on a plate lined with a paper towel. This is done to drain off any excess oil.
7. Serve and eat!

3.2.2925

The post Platanos Maduros (Sweet Fried Plantains) appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

1. Improve my decorating skills for baked goods (see my gingerbread meltdown and you’ll know why)
2. Create more recipes that are all my own
3. Redo my Puerto Rican arepas recipe.

Today we’re going to focus on number 2 and 3. If you’re not familiar with arepas you might wonder why that makes my resolution list. Well, I’ll tell you. Arepas are fried dough and you can eat them with rice, beans, chicken, and all kinds of good foods. They are absolutely delicious! For both 2013 and 2014, my Puerto Rican arepas post has been my most popular post. I don’t promote this post, I don’t even have great pictures, but when people Google for Puerto Rican areaps recipes they end up with me. I think it’s because Venezuelan arepas are most well known and there are so few clear recipes for Puerto Rican arepas. For example, I watched a YouTube video that was an older women just throwing ingredients into a large bucket and mixing it all together. It’s all in Spanish, but midway through she says she thinks it got botched. Not helpful. It looked authentic, but it wouldn’t have been easy to copy.

Anyway, my first attempt was in May 2013, and I was trying to emulate my grandmother’s recipe. That attempt tasted right, but didn’t look right. So, I tried again with a second arepa recipe in September 2013. This recipe looked right, but tasted too much like regular bread. So it’s been on my mind to try it again, but wasn’t much of a priority. But, the perfect moment to try again was this week while I was in Connecticut visiting my parents. I asked my dad to help me so we could try to recreate his mom’s recipe.

And we freaking did it ya’ll! Specifically, we ticked all our sense memory boxes – which is really the most important element. The arepas were golden in color, they smelled perfect, they were flaky when pulled apart, and they had big air bubbles perfect for filling with beans and rice. This is the ultimate arepas recipe. Is it really my grandmother’s recipe? I have no idea because I never saw her make them. And our memories were hazy. Did she knead the dough until smooth? Maybe, but I couldn’t get my dough there. Did she roll the dough into disks? No clue .When she let the dough sit, did it rise? We had no idea. So, it’s not my grandmother’s recipe, it’s mine, but with the flavors she taught us. And anyway, it made us feel the way hers did, and that’s probably most important.

A successful arepas recipe was cause for celebration. When I fried the first one and opened it, my parents went “WOW!” I’m serious, it was loud and genuine and awesome. So, to do it up right, my mom made rice, beans, and a roast chicken. We had a huge Puerto Rican feast. We stuffed the arepas, I stuffed my belly, and then I immediately fell asleep in front of the TV. I’ll say I’m starting the New Year off right.

Messy level: If you use a large bowl, this is not very messy at all. You need a very big bowl to make sure you can properly mix everything without having flour go flying. The real warning you’ll need is not about mess, but about muscle power. Your arms will be tired after all the kneading!

The Ultimate Puerto Rican Arepas

 

Print

Prep time

3 hours

Cook time

2 mins

Total time

3 hours 2 mins

 

Recipe for Puerto Rican arepas. This make a large quantity, but half or a quarter of a recipe can be made effectively. Any uncooked arepas can be stored in the fridge or freezer. Simply bring them back to room temperature before frying.

Serves: 4 dozen

Ingredients

• 8 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 heaping tablespoon salt
• 10 oz lard, cut into cubes
• 2½ cups room temperature water
• vegetable oil

Instructions

1. In a very large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Do this with your hands or a spoon.
2. Add the lard to the flour mixture. Use your fingers to break the lard up into little pieces. Massage the lard into the flour mixture until the lard is pea sized and the whole thing looks like sand.
3. A few tablespoons at a time, add the water too the flour mixture. In between each addition knead the water into the flour. You might not need all of the water! [This stage takes a long time and can be tiresome on your hands and arms. You can do it! I'm sure you can use a mixer with a dough hook, but I haven't tried it. And I think hammering it out by hand helps better channel abuela anyway. ]
4. As you use up the water, the flour will turn from sticky pieces to a dough. Knead the dough until it comes together in one large piece. If you don't know how to knead watch this tutorial. The dough is ready when it feels a little springy and you can roll it together into a ball. It won't be perfectly smooth or very stretchy and elastic.
5. Cover the dough with a warm damp towel and let sit for 1-2 hours.
6. When you're ready to cook, tear off balls the size of two golf balls.
7. Flour your work surface, then roll out the balls until you have discs about ¼ inch thick. Any balls you don't want to use can be stored in an air tight container in the fridge for a few days. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and put in the freezer if you need to store them for longer.
8. Heat about ½ inch of vegetable oil in a skillet on high heat. Test if the oil is ready by taking a tiny ball of dough (size of a tic tac) and put it in the oil. If it sinks, then rises, and is surrounded by bubbles then your oil is ready.
9. Gently slide 1-3 arepas into your skillet. You don't want to over crowd! If you over crowd the oil will cool down and won't cook your arepas properly.
10. Cook on one side for about 30-45 seconds. It should sink, then rise to the top of the oil, then air bubbles should start to form. When you can see browning on the edges, flip the arepa over. Cook on the second side for about 30-45 seconds. Keep flipping until you have the desired golden color.
11. Keep working in batches of 1-3 arepas until you have cooked your desired amount.
12. Serve plain or with rice, beans, chicken, eggs or whatever you'd like to stuff inside.

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The post Puerto Rican Arepas – the Ultimate Recipe appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

But the other reason I haven’t cooked much is that I love cooking for other people and I haven’t had much opportunity to do that. That is until a few weeks ago when I had a girls night at my apartment. It was one last big blow out with my girls before London. The eight of us (not all pictured below) had a potluck and we ate and we drank and we ate some more. In addition to piñon, we had salad, pizza, cheesecake, chips and dip, and raisin bread. Aren’t pot lucks excellent?! You get to eat all kinds of things!

We also talked and told old stories from college and new recent stories. We laughed and laughed and laughed. And finally we dragged ourselves away from the table, we put on some heels and we went out dancing. At the end of the night we came home, ate more food, had a sleepover, and then the next day I made them watch Orange is the New Black. Best night ever. I felt loved, I danced my heart out, and my feet hurt in the morning. It was an absolute blast. Some photos are below. Some are nice and some are weird… so it goes.

But back to cooking. Having everyone over was also the perfect reason to make something off of my recipe bucket-list. I love sweet plantains and I have been wanting to make this recipe forever, I just needed a captive audience. This is lasagna-like only because meat is layered between things and then baked. Otherwise, the ingredients aren’t that similar.

I was making it as the girls arrived and when I opened the door a few people immediately said, “something smells good!” That is always a good sign. I think sweet plantains and meat may sound like a weird combination, but it totally works.  Everyone said they liked it, and it has an excellent array of flavors. Try it out.

I adapted this recipe from Wilo Benet’s Puerto Rico True Flavors. I used ground turkey instead of beef to accommodate dietary restrictions. I also cooked the plantains in a skillet instead of in the oven. And finally, I seasoned the meat how I felt like it and didn’t use the cookbook recipe at all. Anyway, have some people over and try it out.

Ingredients: 

4-5 ripe plantains

3 oz green beans, trimmed and cut into small pieces

1 lb ground beef or turkey

olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup sofrito

2 tbsp cilantro

3 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300°

2. Peel the plantains and cut lengthwise into about 4 pieces. To peel the plantains, cut off the ends then score lengthwise. Slowly peel the skin from the fruit. Use your knife to scrape what won’t peel off. Plantains don’t peel like bananas.

3. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, put in the plantain slices. Fry until they brown a little bit,then flip. Place them on a paper towel to drain the oil. You will have to do this step in batches.

4. Steam the green beans. I did this by putting a little water in a pot, putting a steamer in the pot, adding the green beans, then cooking on high while covered for about 5-7 minutes.

5. In another skillet, heat some oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, saute the onions and garlic until they are soft and browned (5ish minutes)

6. Add the red pepper and sofrito. Cook for about 7 minutes.

7. Add the ground meat. Break it up using your spoon. Cook until entirely cooked through. When it’s done cooking place on paper towels to drain excess grease.

8. Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro and steamed green beans. Mix!

9. Oil the bottoms and sides of a 8″x8″ casserole dish.

10. Arrange a layer of plantains on the bottom of the dish.

11. Top the plantains evenly with the meat. Press down with your hands or with a spoon to make it all fit tightly.

12. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Pour (or spoon/brush) half of the egg over the meat. This egg will help bind your end product.

13. Top the meat with the remaining plantains.

14. Pour the remaining egg over the plantains.

15. Place in the oven and cook for about 35-40 minutes.

16. Slice and serve!

Messy level:  This is a four spoon recipe. You need three burners to cook the meat, green beans, and plantains. You also need a dish for the oven. And you have to drain two things to get the grease out. That makes for a lot of dishes!! Also peeling and cutting the plantains is messy work – I had that goop all over the kitchen!

The post Piñon (Puerto Rican Lasagna) appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

Anyway, I’ve made today’s recipe before but I thought the deep fryer would take it up a notch. This recipe is a Puerto Rican recipe that is essentially seasoned ground beef, covered in potatoes, formed in to a ball, and then deep fried. Over the years, Ryan and I have made this recipe about a half a dozen times with mixed success. It always tastes good, but often the balls fall apart either while being formed or while in the oil. I thought using the deep fryer would help ensure good taste and good looks.

The true key to success is patience and preparation. You cannot make this recipe when you get home from work and want dinner – time is necessary! The mashed potatoes have to be cold so they can hold their shape. It is also important that the beef is cool. The meat doesn’t have to be cold, but if the meat is hot they will heat the potatoes, and then you’re in trouble.  The oil also has to be really hot, which is where the deep fryer comes in because it ensures a consistent temperature. You can totally do this recipe in a pan, but it’s harder to keep the heat high especially if you over crowd the pan.

Anyway, I am really happy with the way this recipe turned out. And, although this recipe is labor intensive, I had so much fun making it. I had dinner first, and then started cooking so I wasn’t hungry as I prepped the meat and potatoes. I was flow state cooking baby! I just let myself cook how I wanted, it was easy and fun. I didn’t use a recipe and I let myself enjoy the process. I made the potatoes and meat on one day, shaped the ingredients into balls the next, and then fried them. Everything worked out really well, I only wish I could make the potato layer thinner so there could be more meat. But, still a very delicious recipe. The rellenos held their circular shape, the outside was crunchy, and the inside was warm and flavorful.

Final note, I didn’t make a perfectly even amount of meat and potatoes. I made some potatoes and some beef and then formed rellenos until I ran out of one ingredient. If you have leftovers, I’m sure you can find other ways to reuse them. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes

1 lb ground beef

olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup sofrito

2 tbsp cilantro

cornstarch

peanut oil (or other oil for frying)

Directions

1. Peel the potatoes. Put them in a large pot, cover the potatoes with cold water. Bring to a boil. Season with salt. Cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 40 minutes. (Note: keep the potatoes whole, you want them to be as starchy as possible so they’ll hold their shape later).

2. Drain the potatoes, and mash them until all large lumps are gone. The potatoes can still be a little bit lumpy, they shouldn’t be totally smooth. Put them in the fridge until cold (I put them in the fridge overnight).

3. In a medium pan, heat olive oil. Add in the garlic and onion and cook until soft (5ish minutes).

4. Add the red pepper and sofrito. Cook until the pepper has softened, about 5-7 minutes.

5. Add the ground beef. Break up with a spoon, and heat until cooked through.

6. Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro.

6. Once the beef is done, drain on a paper towel. Let it cool until it’s easy to hold in your hand (I stored it in the fridge overnight).

7. Add oil to the deep fryer and heat to 350°. Alternatively, if you’re using a pan heat an inch of oil until it’s very hot.

8. When the potatoes and beef are cold, it’s time to form the balls. Coat your hand with a thin layer of mashed potatoes. (I’ve read you can do this using an ice cream scoop, but I don’t have one so here is my method)

9. Put a spoonful of  ground beef in the middle of your hand. Cup your hand to start forming a ball shape. Add additional mashed potatoes to close the ball.

10. Use your other hand to tighten the shape and create a tight ball.

10.5. This isn’t a real step, but I recommend putting the rellenos you aren’t actively cooking on a plate and in the fridge. Keep them cold so they won’t break before frying.

11. Put some cornstarch on a plate. Roll the rellenos in the cornstarch until completely covered.

12. Put the rellenos into the oil. Cook for 6 minutes (some areas will be a little brown).

13. Remove from heat and drain on a paper towel. Let cool a bit.

14. Serve and eat.

Messy level: This is a highly messy recipe. The potatoes, beef, and rellenos are basically three separate recipes. The messiest part is making the rellenos because potatoes will get all over your hand. Cornstarch also gets everywhere and if you aren’t really careful and delicate the rellenos will fall apart. It’s very messy – but if you give yourself the time it’s a fun recipe to make.

The post Rellenos de Papa (Stuffed Potato Fritters) appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

I like to look at my site statistics from time to time. My absolute favorite is seeing what Google searches people use to get to the blog. My top two favorite searches are:

1. Demon pig

2. Pig excited about funnel cake

But the most popular searches are some variation on “Puerto Rican arepas recipe.” When I was searching out recipes, I had a really difficult time finding Puerto Rican specific recipes and so I’m glad that I might be able to help others find what they’re looking for. But, it also shows me that I should get back to testing recipes so I can find a perfect recipe. So here is my second attempt.

I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go after my first attempt. If you haven’t read it, you can find it here. So I did some searching and I found an email my dad sent me in 2010. So you can see, I’ve been thinking about this for a looooong time. This recipe is almost totally different from what I did before, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.

The pocket!!

Here are the pros: I got the arepas to puff up and have pockets. They were so easy to stuff with rice and beans! Ryan actually deserves all the credit for the pockets existing. I was kneading the dough into the shape I wanted them to be and then frying them. My way, the dough was coming out like deep-fried bread rolls and were completely thick and dense in the inside. Ryan suggested I use less dough then use a rolling pin to shape the dough to the diameter I wanted (about the size of my hand). Then when we put it into the fryer they puffed up to exactly the size I wanted and I squealed with glee. So now I want to know, if I had done this the first time and kneaded the dough for longer and into thinner patties, would I have gotten pockets?

The con is that I felt like the consistency was too much like bread. It wasn’t quite the like the fried dough I remembered. I though the my first arepas were closer in texture to my grandmother’s arepa.

Now the problem with doing something totally different is that there are too many variables. What made it be different? Is it the self-rising flour vs all-purpose? Is it the added salt? The milk instead of water? Now I have to go back to the drawing board. I’m thinking arepas 3.0 will be this recipe but with all-purpose flour instead.

Anyway, I think I’m on to something. So for all you Google searchers out there, I hope this is what you’re looking for.

Ingredients

4 cups self-rising flour

1 tbsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp lard/shortening/butter ( I used shortening)

1 cup milk

Directions

1. Put the flour in a large bowl. Add salt and baking soda. Mix

2. Cut the lard/shortening/butter into the dry ingredients.

3. Make a hole in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the milk.

4. Mix until everything is incorporated and you have dough that has the consistency of pizza dough. This is hard to do by hand or with a fork so you can also use a mixer with a dough hook set on low.

5. Cover the bowl and let sit for 3 hours.

6. Knead the dough for a few minutes (about 3-5).

7. Take a golf ball size ball of dough. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/8″ thick and about 5-6″ wide.

8. Heat about 1″ of oil in a skillet until very hot. Or heat a deep fryer to 350°.

9. Place an arepa in the hot oil until it is golden brown. Then flip it and brown the other side. This takes about 2-3 minutes per side.

Look at that bubble!

10. Remove from oil and drain on a paper towel.

11. Serve with rice and beans!

Messy Level: This is mildly messy. Mixing the dough takes a ton of work and if you do it by hand you are likely to have flour glob all over yourself and your counter. I tried mixing by hand, before I gave up and used the dough hook. I washed my hands of the dough and Ryan looked in the sink and was a little surprised to see yucky, lumpy, white clumps in the sink.  But that’s not so bad. Mostly using a lot of oil can lead to difficult clean up, but largely this is pretty straightforward to make and clean up. I hope you try it!

The post Puerto Rican Arepas Part 2 appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

Something you might not know about me is that I have two part time jobs. I’m lucky because both are great. The are fun, intellectually stimulating, and I get to run around and don’t have to sit behind a desk. I also have flexible hours so sometimes I get home really early, and sometimes I sleep in late. But, the downside of this is that I often work on the weekends resulting in a 6-day work week and a 1-day weekend. So, imagine my great surprise and delight when my bosses and lady luck smiled down on me and gave me ALL of Memorial Day weekend off. That’s three days off! IN. A. ROW. It was greatness. And it gave me a lot of time to play in the kitchen. I made a spicy carrot and beef tagine, lemon squares, strawberry sorbet, pizza, cookies, and arepas.

Arepas are fried dough, and Ryan and I liken them to Puerto Rican latkes. Other Latin American places besides Puerto Rico have latkes, but we’re focusing on my family’s recipe today so we’re calling them Puerto Rican. I’ve been researching how to make arepas for almost a month, and the long weekend gave me the chance to final dive in and make them.

Let me say, before we get in too deep, that for me, this is a recipe in progress. Think of it as “Arepas 1.0.” The recipe I’m going to give you is a complete recipe that you can make and enjoy. But my quest isn’t done, because I’m trying to channel the arepas recipe that my grandmother used to make. My grandmother passed away a number of years ago, so while this recipe is delicious and works well, it’s not exactly the way I remember. So I’m going to continue tinkering and testing, and will update accordingly. I’m working on memories and tradition, and so maybe my nostalgia is un-achievable, but I’m having fun trying. Now, before we get into the recipe, let me back up and tell you about why trying this is so important to me.

I started cooking regularly, and with interest, about 2 1/2 years ago when I moved to New York. Before that I “cooked” in that I could make pasta, cook a chicken breast in a skillet, and heat a box of rice. But I didn’t know how to make anything that was a little bit special. When I moved to New York I wanted to try my hand at cooking because it was the first time I was living alone in a non-collegey atmosphere. Also, New York is expensive so cooking at home would be cheaper, and my apartment was only a few blocks from the Union Square Farmer’s Market, which is year round and has a huge variety.

But, also I started cooking, because I’m a little crazy. I was living in a new place, and when I thought about what felt like home, a lot of memories had to do with my favorite meals. And then I had a realization that I didn’t know how to cook anything that my future family might like, ask for, or long for. Now, I was a single girl (to be clear I was dating Ryan, so I was single in the government forms check box sense of the word) in New York, but I was worrying about the needs of my future family. A husband I didn’t yet have, and children that were non-existent. I was twenty-five, and crazily worrying about feeding future people.

So I started to learn how to cook. And in lieu of family, I fed classmates and friends. But all that prep paid off! I’m now happy to say that me and Ryan, my little family of two, has a few go-to recipes. There are meals now that Ryan requests or is happy to see when he gets home. Now that I have some of my own recipes, I’ve become interested in tackling some of my family’s existing recipes. Some recipes I’ve made, like my mom’s apple pie or the arroz con gandules that Titi Lisa (Aunt Lisa) brings to Thanksgiving every year. And some I haven’t gotten to yet, like Papa’s breakfast cornmeal.

But arepas have becomes especially important in part because they come from a potentially a lost recipe. As far as I know, when my Abuela (grandmother) passed away, no one knew her arepa recipe exactly. Her arepas were crispy, airy, and delicious. They were perfect for stuffing with rice and beans or eating solo and dipping them in the bean sauces. We only had arepas if we were visiting her, or if she sent some pre-made dough back home with us. They were somewhat special because we didn’t have them all the time. But mostly, they were so tasty. I would easily wolf down 3 or 4 in a sitting.

Now it’s funny that I covet this recipe so heavily because my abuela wasn’t known for her cooking. Her arepas were amazing, her rice and beans were good, and everything else was… not good. I liked going to her house because she had grape soda, which I had never seen anywhere else. And she bought us fried chicken buckets from KFC, which also wasn’t something I had at home. And for dessert she’d give us those little cups of ice cream, half chocolate and half vanilla, with a little wooden spoon. But she didn’t really cook and even heating things up didn’t always go well. I remember an Eggo waffle that was hot on the outside but rock hard on the inside. Eric, my brother, and I sawed at them until Papa gently suggested that maybe we should eat something else.

My abuela and me. Yes, I was a pudgy baby.

Most importantly though, my abuela was awesome. She was the first person I knew who lived in an apartment, and didn’t have a car, and walked everywhere. I thought that was cool, and scary, and unusual, but amazing. I’m totally convinced to this day that she could have wrestled a bear and won, because she was strong and had such a fierce personality. She liked to crochet and made pretty dolls and covers for tissue boxes. But she was also into WWE wrestling, following the story lines closely. Each time we visited she gave us gift bags full of fun goodies she bought at the dollar store. Things like puzzle books, pens that you can click to change the ink color, and crazy socks. And looking back now, I think she filled her home with things that just made her happy – no matter how silly. She wore sparkly shoelaces in her sneakers, she had a fake bearskin rug – complete with bear head, and she had a sign in her bathroom that said “if you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seatie.” She had a print of Picasso’s Femme, which is basically a few lines that make a picture of a butt. I thought it was hilarious and awesome. She was loving, quirky, and passionate and it was fun to visit her.

So, I feel like by making her arepas it’s a nice way to cherish her warm, quirky, and unique memory. By doing this, I can feel close to her and remember all the lovely things about her.

Also, not only does this recipe make me feel closer to my grandmother, it’s brought me to my parents and my aunt. In preparation for this I reached out to my Titi Mari for advice, and she provided me with the recipe below. I also asked Papa what he remembered about the arepas. Then I made my first batch and sent my mom a picture with no information except, “looks good right?” She called me almost immediately exclaiming, “are those AREPAS?!” And so we had a nice talk about what had worked well and what I could do next.

And my arepas came out pretty darn good. We each ate two the first day. And I’ve been having them for lunch at work, greedily scooping up beans and rice and wishing I had brought more. I find myself budgeting the arepas so I have at least a few bites saved for the end of the meal. They tasted crispy and golden, with some doughy parts, just like I remembered. But they weren’t airy with pockets for beans. So I will push on and try again.

I hope you think of trying this recipe. Or, better yet, what’s a meal you love from your childhood? What gives you a happy memory? Whatever that is, I think that’s a recipe you should try. Hopefully we all have a happy food memory. So why not try and recreate it?

Ingredients:

1/2 lb all purpose flour

2 oz lard

8 oz salted water (salted to your taste, I used 2 tsp and Ryan said it could use more)

Now, when I read this recipe from my aunt I said to myself, “lard?!” Lard can definitely make things delicious but it’s not popular any more. It’s texture’s a bit weird in the tub, it’s high in calories, and the fact that it’s pig fat (yeah, if you didn’t know, lard is pig fat) is a little off putting when you think about making pies or other meals. But I was going to try my damnedest to do it like my abuela, so I went on a quest for lard.

I usually show at Trader Joe’s, and they didn’t have lard. I then walked to Whole Foods thinking that foodies shop there and so might need lard, even though it goes against the healthy vibe. I had read that lard can be hard to find so I searched in the butter section, the baking section, the ethnic food section, and then finally to the meat counter. I went to the meat counter and had this conversation:

Me: Do you have lard?

Lady at the Counter: What?

Me: Lard? (In my head: sigh, if she doesn’t know what lard is I’ll never find it!)

Lady at the Counter gave me a confused face

Second Lady at the Counter jumped in and said she’d help me. She took me to the shortening, which she said I could use as a substitute. It was on the bottom shelf below all the cooking oils. I was feeling a little deflated and I called Papa to confirm that I could use shortening. He said yes, he had seen his mom do that. So that’s what I used. But I’m told lard is the best and can make the arepas more flaky. Next time I’ll do more searching and find lard. If you don’t want to use lard, use shortening or butter.

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl mix the water and salt. Stir to help the salt dissolve.

2. Put the flour in a medium bowl. Cut in the lard/shortening/butter.

3. Pour a little bit of the water (I did 2 tbsp at a time) into the flour. Mix with your hands. You want to add water until you have a dough that does not stick to your hands. You may not need all 8oz of water. If the dough gets too wet, add a little flour to dry it out.

4. Form discs with the dough. I made about 8 discs and they were about 1/2 inch thick. Put them on a plate, not touching each other. Let sit for 30 minutes.

5. Pour a thick layer of vegetable oil in a deep skillet. You’re deep frying, so pour as much oil as you’re comfortable with. Heat on medium to medium-high. Your oil is hot enough when a.) you flick water at it and it pops and bubbles or b.) you put a little of bread in the oil and it floats, not sinks.

6. Fry the arepas in the oil, flipping occasionally, until both sides are golden brown. If you’re nervous about frying oil, I totally get it. Oil can pop and splash up and even one little fleck can hurt a bit. To avoid lots of splatter when you put in the arepas, here’s a tip: use the side of the pan as a slide. Gently nudge the dough disk over the side of the pan and down the edges. It will slide in nicely to the oil.

7. Once cooked, put arepas on a paper towel to drain off excess oil.

8. Serve with rice and beans! Or even, eat it alone. I knew I was on the right track to making my abuela’s recipe when I was ravenously eating the arepas alone and wishing I had more to scarf down.

Messy Level:

At the suggestion of my friend Charlotte, the new feature for Cooking is Messy is the “messy meter,” to help show how messy these recipes are. The scale is measured in dirty spoons, with one dirty spoon being low level messy, and five dirty spoons being high level messy. Hope you enjoy the new messy meter!

I’m going to call this medium. It’s messy first because you have to put your hands in and work the dough. If you over water the dough it gets really soupy, sticky, and sort of nasty on your hands. Also, oil is just a bit messy to clean up. It pops and splatters so you have oil on your stove top and on your apron (yeah I wear an apron). Also, cleaning up oil just takes a bit of work. However, you only need one bowl, one pot, and a spatula to make this recipe so the clean up really is minimal.

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Now, like all family recipes, many of the directions I got from my mom and my aunt were a bit vague. Things like “a lot” and “until it looks right” can be really confusing and frustrating until you make it and it comes out yummy and “a lot” and “until it looks right” makes a lot of sense. I’ll do my best to be specific, but this recipe allows for wiggle room when it comes to seasoning so don’t worry!

Before getting started, let’s talk ingredients. I use mostly Goya products. You can use whatever you want, but Goya is easy to find in grocery stores and always hits the spot. First, let’s talk pigeon beans, or gandules. I have only had pigeon beans in this dish so I have no idea how else to use them, and I really have no idea what they taste like solo, but they are great in this dish.

Second, is sofrito. I like the Goya frozen version. You can make your own fresh version. The recipe I like is from Wilo Benet’s book True Flavors. You can also buy the sauce-like Goya version, but the frozen container is the  largest and is less tomato-y. To use it, I just microwave the container for 20 seconds and then scrape off the portion I need.

Finally, let’s talk tomato paste. You can use regular tomato paste, but I’ve used whatever tomato based sauce I’ve had in the fridge. Some sometimes I’ve used paste, sometimes plain pasta sauce, and once the tomato juice from a can of whole tomatoes.

I think that’s the basics, so we should be good to get started!

Ingredients:

1 cup medium grain rice

1 can pigeon beans (drain the beans but hold on to the liquid)

2 cups of liquid (You can use all water, but it will be most flavorful if you measure the bean liquid and then use chicken broth or water to make the difference up to 2 cups) You might also need more than 2 cups of liquid, and I’ll explain why in the directions.

olive oil

1 small onion diced

2 tbsp garlic minced (can use more or less depending on taste)

3-4 tbsp sofrito

3 tbsp tomato paste

3 tbsp cilantro

*People also add green olives, cubanelle peppers, and diced ham. I don’t because Ryan doesn’t like olives and I don’t like ham, but if you choose to use these ingredients add them the step before you put in the pigeon beans.

Directions:

1. In a large pot, heat 1-2 tbsp of oil. I like to have the setting at medium-high.

2. Cook the onion and garlic for about 3 minutes, or until the onion in translucent.

3. Stir in the sofrito, cilantro, and tomato paste. Now here is where my mom said you can use “a lot” of sofrito. She said there was no way you could use too much, so don’t feel like you have to stick to just 3-4 tbsps of sofrito. I know I’ve used enough sofrito when everything that turned the color of sofrito and the onions and garlic now look they are cooking in a thin layer of liquid.

4. Stir in the drained pigeon beans.

5. Pour in the liquid. If you can see the pigeon beans clearly through the liquid, add a little more until you can’t see the ingredients at the bottom of the pot. Usually I add about another 1/4 -1/2 cup.  Bring it to a boil. Season with salt if you’d like.

6. Once the liquid has boiled add the rice.

7. Cook until the liquid evaporates and the surface of the rice is visible with some bubbling between the grains of rice. This usually takes 9-10 minutes.

8. Lower the heat, cover the pot with a lid, and cook for about 20 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is fully cooked. Some people like to overcook it a little at the bottom so those grains are crunchy – I usually have people fighting for those portions.

Messy Level – Low. It’s really a one pot dish so there’s not much to clean afterward. Also, everything cooks at a nice boil or simmer so there isn’t an occasion for thing to pop out of the pot.  Any mess I make comes in through spilling sofrito, chicken broth, and tomato sauce as I balance out how much I want to put in. But who doesn’t spill while cooking? 

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