The actual amount of water you’ll need depends on the brand of masarepa you use, but a good basic rule of thumb is to start with a 1 to 1 ratio (by volume), then add more water as necessary. I add about a half teaspoon of kosher salt and a half teaspoon of oil per cup of masarepa and water.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You’ll find arepas stuffed with cheese and baked on hot stones in coal-fired ovens. Arepas with sour milk cheese worked right into the dough. Arepas de choclo, made like a pancake with sweet corn on a hot griddle. Arepas de huevo, golden yellow deep-fried puffy arepas split open and stuffed with an egg. Tiny arepitas eaten as a snack. Even packages of arepa-flavored corn chips. Move out of Colombia into Venezuela, and you’ll find thicker arepas split open and stuffed with fillings ranging from cheese and beans to pork or shrimp.
It’s a wide, wide world out there, but we’ve got to start somewhere, so today we’ll focus on four common arepa varieties, all made with the same basic dough.
