Arepa de huevo (Arepa with egg)

March 23rd, 2007 · 29 Comments

Arepa de huevo is a Colombian food that I remember from my childhood. Other countries may do this but I do not know much or really anything about other varieties. Arepas are made from a very finely ground corn meal. I will put a recipe or guideline below for making that as well as how-to photos on how to make the arepa with egg below.

My first experience with it was when we visited Colombia 25 years ago. As in other latin american countries, street vendors sell all manner of things. We were on foot somewhere in Bogota, Colombia, and literally by the roadside there was this large woman sitting next to an enormous wok-like pot filled with boiling hot oil. She also had dozens of eggs and arepas. I didn’t really know what to expect when we walked up. I watched her cut open a large arepa (size of your hand, I am used to seeing them more like 1/2 that size), break an egg into the steaming middle of the arepa, pinch it back closed, and slip it quickly down the side of the wok-pot down into the boiling oil. Next thing I know, I am holding a napkin with a steaming hot arepa de huevo inside, tasting it for the first time.

Truly fantastic.

I have aways respected the potent possibilities of food poisoning and GI upset that can happen when you eat things in a region where you have not acclimated yourself to the local bugs in the water. On this trip, I experienced food poisoning also for the first time but it was NOT from the Arepa de huevo I had from the street vendor.

Why?

Arepa de huevo

Because this treat is deep fried, making it less likely to be a vector for forborne illnesses.

More important than all of that, it is very delicious!

I had not eaten one in all that time until just the other day, when I finally got down to making them in my own kitchen. They came out so much better than I had anticipated. I hope you will try them too!

Arepa de huevo

Ingredients:

Arepas:

1 C “La Venezolana” or “ArepaHarina” precocida masa harina (extremely fine precooked corn meal - you simply can not use any substitutes here, find this ingredient)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 C boiling hot water
4 eggs (or more, depending on how far your masa goes)

Hogao:

5 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 bunches of green onions, finely chopped
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of ground cominos
1/2 package of “sazon” azafran
1/2 cup of packed, chopped cilantro
1/4 cup of olive oil
salt to taste

Directions:

Saute the listed “hogao” ingredients in the olive oil until wilted, set aside.

Mix the harina and salt and then add the boiling water. Mix until incorporated and set aside for 15 minutes.

Dough ball

Wet hands with cold water and shape hand sized pancakes of harina (about 1/6 inch thick) or use a tortilla press. I used the press in this case but I think I would prefer to recommend the hand method as you get a thicker arepa. With the press, its a delicious crispy thing, just a bit different than I remember.

To use the press:
Put a ball of masa on the press (which you have lined with a freezer ziplock bag, cut to size).

On the press, with plastic

Gently push down on the press so that you mash it flat but not TOO thin.

First pressing

Open the press and rotate the arepa 180 degrees and press just slightly more to try to even the thickness all around.

Peel back the plastic and either toast in a hot pan like you do with most arepas (below shown with smaller ones), or slip the raw arepa into the hot oil until it puffs up.

Ready for first stage cooking

To be toasted

Remove and allow to cool.

Carefully cut into the side of the arepa to form a pocket.

Slicing the hole

Put a spoonful of hogao in the bottom of the fried arepa.

Put an egg into a small cup and then slip the egg into the pocket.

Small expresso cup used to put egg in arepa

Egg in the arepa, quick go to the next step!

Mend the edge with raw dough and then slip it back into the hot oil for a couple of minutes (until it hits the color you want, light golden brown).

Mending the edge before frying

Enjoy hot!

Ready to eat!

Tags:

29 comments for this entry ↓

1 Bayarts // Mar 25, 2007 at 2:28 pm

This looks absolutely delicious!
2 Nika // Mar 25, 2007 at 3:41 pm

Stacy: thanks! It is super yum
3 Nika’s Culinaria » How stumbleupon beat my server’s behind // Mar 28, 2007 at 10:33 am

[…] Sunday, I think, someone stumbled one of my posts and gave it a nice review. It was the one about Colombian arepa de huevo.. I thought that was just peachy because I think the world would be a better place if we all […]
4 Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Arepa de Huevo from Colombia, Ceviche from Ecuador and Pupusas from El Salvador! // Mar 28, 2007 at 2:43 pm

[…] a delicious recipe with step-by-step photos on how to prepare a traditional Colombian delicacy: Arepa de Huevo (Arepa with Egg) My first experience with it was when we visited Colombia 25 years ago. As in other […]
5 Twinkle // Apr 2, 2007 at 7:09 am

Hi,

I really apologies for this, as I had no idea that we can not copy the recipe. Sorry about it and next time this kind of problem will not come from my side.

Twinkle
6 Nika // Apr 2, 2007 at 8:14 am

Twinkle: thank you for the apology. The recipe in of itself is not the problem. It is the wholesale lifting of the post and downloading my photos to your site, all of it in its entirety, that is the very basic problem.

When you write about other people’s posts you do not copy them, you make a quick comment and then link out to their post, directing the reader to that site.
7 Columbus Foodie » Blog Archive » March 2007 Roundup // Apr 5, 2007 at 7:54 pm

[…] Melting Wok, Vintage Cheddar Breads from Milk and Cookies, Fried Kibbeh Balls from Live to Eat, Arepa de huevo from Nika’s Culinaria, Giant Cauliflower Puff from One Hot Stove, Spicy Mac from Not Eating […]
8 Nicolas // Aug 9, 2007 at 2:36 pm

I have been eating arepas and arepas con huevo my whole life (25 years). I have been lucky to grow up in a Colombian family here in California. I think I will compare this recipe to my Aunts and then learn to make them myself. Gotta pass on the tradition! Awesome post
9 Nika // Aug 9, 2007 at 2:37 pm

Nicolas: excellent! Let me know if your aunt’s recipe is different. I have adapted this a bit from the street way of doing it so she may well have her own adaptation too!
10 Nicolas // Aug 9, 2007 at 2:42 pm

Well she is in her 70s and grew up in Colombia. She and her sister came over in their 20s-30s. So I think she has a local way of doing them if not “street”. Just from the years of watching in great anticipation of eating them the recipe you have here looks very similar. The family is having an Arepa brunch this sunday! I CANT WAIT
11 Nika // Aug 9, 2007 at 2:44 pm

Oh, no you are torturing me! I have family coming to visit .. I think we will break out the deep fryer and make some too!
12 margarita // Aug 27, 2007 at 8:51 pm

can i harina pan
13 margarita // Aug 27, 2007 at 8:51 pm

sorry, can i use harina pan?
14 nika // Aug 27, 2007 at 8:57 pm

M: indeed, you can use that!
15 margarita // Aug 27, 2007 at 10:06 pm

Do you have a recipe for any picante for the tamales? Can I ask if you are Colombian?
16 nika // Aug 27, 2007 at 10:40 pm

Do you mean hogao? If you type hogao in the search box you will get posts that have the recipe here on this site. I am 1/2 colombian, born there raised here in the US since 3.5 years old.
17 margarita // Aug 27, 2007 at 10:55 pm

ok, I just made these and the arepas didn’t fluff up when I fried them. Help? Wha did i do wrong?
18 Nika // Aug 28, 2007 at 10:56 am

Margarita: Wow, either you are in another time zone or you were making these really late last night!

When you fry the arepas they do not puff up really big, just a slight puff when compared to the grilled kind. You want to JUST cook them and not fry them too long because you want a bit of wet masa in the interior. I bet you didnt do aything wrong

Does this answer at all or can you explain what they looked like if its something else all together.
19 Dan Estridge // Sep 13, 2007 at 5:06 pm

Looks great. I’ve never tried the egg and hogao - I’ll have to get on that. We usually stuff ours with cheese or meat. Also, I tend to use a rich chicken stock in place of the hot water - I’m not sure if this is even vaguely authentic - with me it’s just a reflex to use stock or wine rather than water wherever possible. One last observation - although frying is probably necessary to this particular recipe owing to the wet stuffing, it is not the only way to cook arepas. In fact, prior to reading this post, it had never occurred to me to fry one. We grill ours. The deep toasty and smoky flavors obtainable on the grill are wonderful.
20 Nika // Sep 13, 2007 at 5:17 pm

Hogao was mandatory on about 1/2 of everything I ate as a child! You can use stock if you like. My grandma likes to use the water BOILING and she sticks her hands in the masa while its still super hot, she has tough hands from doing it so many years.

The only time you see this fried (or that I have) is for the arepa de huevo.. elsewise, its grilled. I have memories of my grandma grilling arepas over this tiny little grill on the snow on the back deck in the middle of a fiercely cold Iowan winter. Thats dedication! I use a dry cast iron pan and watch them carefully. We do not have a gas grill and firing up a mess of charcoal just for a few arepas always seems a bit wasteful for our needs.
21 Juan Jr. // Oct 15, 2007 at 4:31 pm

Everytime we go to Barranquilla, Colombia we have this tasteful arepa de huevo in a restaurant called Narco Bollo. At home we have them frequently thanks to my aunt that makes the best arepa de huevo in the wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorld!!
22 Nika // Oct 17, 2007 at 5:00 pm

Juan: narco bollo, wow, interesting name! Your tia sounds great!
23 Maria // Jan 9, 2008 at 10:16 pm

Where I live I cannot find areparina or any precocida harina, can I use either polenta flour or regular corn meal? and how would I make the arepa masa with those?
Thanks
24 Nika // Jan 10, 2008 at 7:47 am

Maria: No, you can not use those to make arepas or empanadas, sorry!
25 amy schlaupitz // Jan 16, 2008 at 2:20 pm

i didn’t really like these things in my class i only liked the carmel like filling!!!!
26 Annie // Jan 26, 2008 at 8:38 pm

Nika: thanks very much for post this wonderful recipe from my beautiful country Colombia… good pictures and great recipe… I love Arepa con huevo recipe… so, I am glad to find it on your web site….!
27 natalia // Mar 26, 2008 at 11:43 pm

do you have the recipe for just regular arepas?
28 n // Mar 27, 2008 at 5:33 am

Natalia: yep, visit this link http://nikas-culinaria.com/2006/08/21/a-colombian-breakfast-how-2-guide/
29 Mao // Apr 28, 2008 at 10:23 pm

Thank you! your recipes and the pictures are great, I am from Colombia are you Colombian too?

Nikas Culinaria

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