Arepas stuffed with cheese and parrot eggs

Arepas stuffed with cheese and parrot eggs. Colombian breakfast

The arepas are a favorite breakfast of many Colombians and Venezuelans as they prepare in the two countries and is one of their most popular dishes.

This is how our bread here can be eaten with other dishes or filled with something as a sandwich.

But they are not only consumed at breakfast , arepas are always present at meals, barbecues and even at mid-afternoon snacks.

We have filled them with cheese because they are probably the most popular or at least the most basic ones that are usually made at home.

These arepas are usually accompanied with some parrot eggs , another traditional dish in Colombian mornings where, of course, you cannot miss a good coffee.

Arepas are made with corn flour (not cornstarch), it was not a typical product around here, but you can already see in all supermarkets this type of flour (yellow or white, depending on the corn).

Even in very popular supermarkets that have put out their own private label.  

Preparation of the dough for the Colombian arepas

1. We heat the water, if it is warm it will be enough and we transfer it to a large bowl.
2. Add the cornmeal and salt little by little and stir with a spoon.
3. When we have incorporated all the flour and the mixture thickens we begin to knead with clean hands.
4. Add the grated cheese and oil, continue kneading until well integrated. It is very typical to use butter instead of oil.  
5. We make a ball with the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.
6. After the resting time, we form balls with portions of dough with our hands moistened with water and crush them to form an arepa.

Preparation of the arepas stuffed with cheese to the pan

1. With these quantities 4 large arepas come out, we can also make small arepitas using less amount of dough. 
2. We are leaving the arepas on a clean or smooth tray or surface without touching each other.
3. We grease a pan with oil and remove the remains with kitchen paper, we can make them fried without removing the rest of the oil, but in this way we roast them and they are slightly lighter.
4. We roast 4 minutes on each side.
5. When they are ready we leave them in a basket or container covered with a clean cloth to retain heat.

Preparation of parrot eggs

1. While the arepas are tempered we prepare the parrot eggs. Chop the tomato and chives and pour oil in a pan to make a sauce.
2. Add the onion and tomato at the same time with salt and pepper, leave to cook, in a few minutes it will be ready, stir occasionally to avoid burning the onion.
3. We toss the beaten eggs to the sofrito and stir to make a stir. When they are almost set, we remove them from the heat.

Final presentation of this Colombian breakfast

1. We open the arepas that will still be hot with a knife and fill them with one or two slices of cheese.
2. The cheese will melt with the heat inside the arepa. 

You can see all the step by step photos of the recipe for arepas with cheese and eggs Perico in this album.

Tips for some arepas stuffed with cheese and yummy parrot eggs

• Warm or hot water (without boiling) will help the flour mix without difficulty.
• Although the amounts are quite exact if our dough is liquid we will add more flour. If, on the contrary, we see that there is a mass that is too hard and not manageable, we can add a little more water.