第一次嘗到委內瑞拉式的玉米餅是我去年在哥倫比亞出差的時候，記得那天晚上我趕著要走回飯店，因為很多當地人都跟我說，晚上九點之後不要獨自在街上走動，很危險。進到飯店之前，肚子很餓，剛好看到門口有一攤在賣熱狗，夾在一個脆脆的白白的薄餅裡面，想說買來解決一下。殊不知，一咬下去之後，馬上下定決心，有一天要自己學會做委內瑞拉玉米餅！
The first time I tried Venezuelan arepas was when I was in Colombia on a business trip. I was hurrying home because the locals warned me not to be out alone after 9pm. I was so hungry before I went back into the hotel. Luckily, I saw someone selling some hotdogs with some white flat crispy thingy. I took a bite of this white flat crispy thing, and I fell in love with it!
我很想嘗試做這種玉米餅很久了，但是老實說有點怕，畢竟自己只吃過一次的東西，又沒有看別人做過。我一個很會做這種玉米餅的朋友Liz告訴我，我需要的材料就是玉米餅粉 (預煮過的玉米粉-cornmeal)，還有水和鹽。既然被她講得那麼簡單，現在因為武漢肺炎在巴拿馬也都不能出門，那我就來試看看吧！
It was intimidating to try to make a completely new dish that I have had only once, but I was encouraged by my friend, Liz, who told me that all I needed was arepa flour (precooked cornmeal), water, and salt. Since I need something to do during this Coronavirus lockdown, here we go!
所需食材 Ingredients
準備時間 Prep Time: 7 mins
煎煮時間 Cooking time: 每一片玉米餅一面差不多要5分鐘。About 5 mins for each side of the arepas.
- 預煮過的玉米粉 (如上圖示)一杯
- 水1 1/4 杯 (用量水的同一個杯子量)
- 鹽巴1匙
這個分量可以做6-8 玉米餅。
- Pre-cooked cornmeal 1 cup
- 1/ 1/4 cup
- salt 1 tbsp
This batter makes 6-8 arepas.
煮法 Instructions
- 把鹽巴加進玉米粉裡面拌勻，再慢慢加進水。Mix the salt into the arepa flour together well. Then, add the water in slowly
玉米粉的麵糊看起來會像下面影片裡面這種感覺。The consistency of the batter will feel like something like this in the video below.
讓麵糊靜置五分鐘。Let the batter sit for 5 minutes.
2. 把麵糊用雙手揉成可愛的球形。你可以感覺到玉米粉的麵糊感覺非常滑順、柔軟。Form the batter into cute little round arepa balls. The batter feels really soft and smooth.
3. 把每一個小球放在剪開的夾鏈袋中間，用手均勻壓平。Put the ball in the middle of a cut-up zip-lock bag like this below to flatten it.
不要壓得太扁，因為煮好之後是要從中間切開，裡面要塞餡料的！Don’t make it to thin so that we can cut it open in the middle when it’s done.
5. 開始煎囉！加點油，用中小火煎，才不會太快焦，一面差不多要煎5分鐘才會熟，熟的時候外表會是金黃色，而且脆脆的。Use middle to low heat and start frying it on a skillet! Each side takes about 5 mins.
6. 煎好之後，用刀子從中間切開。請看我下面的示範，旁邊還有巴拿馬人在旁邊喊：「看喔！台灣女生在做arepas！」
7. 裡面再加喜歡的餡料，就完成囉！脆脆的外皮，加上綿綿的內裡，還有撲鼻的玉米香味，真的是太好吃了！一個旅館裡的委內瑞拉人跟我說，最經典的吃法是切開之後，裡面加滿起司，或是可以單加奶油吃 （就像我們台灣人吃烤奶油吐司這樣。）也可以加蛋、美乃滋和奶油這個組合！
配上鳳梨和一杯熱巧克力，這真是在巴拿馬一個完美的早午餐！Ah, the pineapples and hot chocolate are optional. 😉
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