Arepas con carne mechada

The arepa is the typical flatbread of Venezuela. Arepas are made from a dough of white cornflour, water, salt and a bit of oil, then cooked on the "budare", a sort of big cast iron pan. They could be made also with yellow cornflour, but in that case they are named "arepas amarillas". Arepas are simple and fast to make; they substitute bread or can be a whole meal: in fact, you can fill them with everything you want. Now we are going to propose a typical filling of Venezuela, "carne mechada" (shredded beef). Otherwise, you can stuff them with ham and cheese or, for example, a filling made of roasted chicken, onion, garlic, avocado, lime, mayonnaise (these arepas are called "reina pepiada"). To make arepas you need a particular flour: this is "Harina P.A.N" (patented brand of Venezuela since 1954) precooked white cornflour that you can easily find in ethnic food shops.

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