I have been dying to attempt to make Arepas for a long time! I saw them on a cooking show a while back and thought now those seem easy enough and delicious!!!! Whats an arepa? Precooked corn meal, water, salt and shredded Mexican cheese formed into a patty then browned on each side. To build this amazing Mexican style sandwich, I made an incredible pulled pork with a roasted chili sauce. To go along with it, and machete extra messy, some guacamole and diced red onion. The end result was amazing.
Ingredients
5-6 lb pork shoulder
1 large yellow onion, quartered
1 cup water
1/2 cup sofrito
1 poblano, stem removed
2 jalapeno, stem removed
2 tomatoes, halved
2 cans mild green chili enchilada sauce
3 garlic cloves
cilantro
1- 24 oz bag precooked white cornmeal
1 Tbsp salt
6 cups warm water
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
4 ripe avocados
1 lime
1 red onion, fine dice
salt, pepper, garlic powder
olive oil
butter
Preparation
1. Start with the pork since thats going to take a while to cook. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
2. Season the pork all around with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
3. Heat an oven safe large heavy pan over medium high heat. Add enough olive oil just to coat the bottom of the pan.
4. Brown the pork on all sides. Then add in the water, sofrito and onion into the pan and cover with the lid.
5. Cook the pork for 4 hours.
6. In the meantime lets make the arepas. In a large bowl mix the cornmeal, salt, and cheese until combined. Stir in the warm water until well combined. Let stand for 5 minutes.
7. You can go ahead and make the arepas while the pork is cooking then pop them in the oven to warm before serving.
8. Take a softball size amount of the arepa mix. Form into about a 4 inch round. Place the arepa onto a buttered griddle or frying pan and brown well on each side. Place onto a baking sheet.
9. Now for the sauce! In a large frying pan, over medium heat, add a drizzle of olive oil. place the poblano and jalapeños into the pan. Roast on each side, set aside.
10. Add the tomatoes and garlic to the same pan and again roast on each side.
11. Place the chilis, tomatoes and garlic into a food processor {to remove some heat just take the seeds and ribs out of the chilis first}. Pulse a few times to begin breaking down. Add in the green chili enchilada sauce, and a couple handfuls of cilantro leaves. Mix until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
12. The guacamole is really basic. Mash the avocados in a bowl. Stir in the lime juice, some salt, garlic powder and chopped cilantro. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
13. Ok all our components are ready. Lets finish it up and eat! Remove the pork from the pot and shred and be careful to get any bones out. Stir enough roasted chili sauce with the shredded pork to coat.
14. Warm those areas in the oven the slice open. Add a good scoop of the shredded pork, some guacamole and the diced red onion.
Credit: Foodista