Venezuelan Arepas Con Carne Mechada
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
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1 kg beef flank or skirt
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1 brown onion, finely sliced
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4 garlic cloves, sliced
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1 red capsicum, sliced
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1 green capsicum, sliced
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140g tomato paste
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190g Sacla Pasta Tomato and Garlic Pasta Sauce
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1tsp cumin
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1 tbsp oregano
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1 tsp smoked paprika
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1 cup coriander, chopped
Arepas
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1 tsp salt
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2 tsp olive oil
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2 cups Harina PAN
To Serve
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400g tin black beans, drained and rinsed, warmed
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¼ cup crumbled feta cheese
Method
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Heat a frying pan with olive oil over high heat. Add the beef and sear for 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Place into a pressure cooker.
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Keep the pan over in the same pan on high heatand add the onion, red and green capsicum, garlic, cumin, paprika and oregano. Stir for 3-5 minutes until soften. Add the tomato paste, pasta sauce, ½ cup water and a good pinch of salt and pepper., Stir through.
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Bring to the boil, then transfer to the pressure cooker. Set the pressure cooker to 35mins and leave aside to cook.
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Remove beef and shred with two forks, stir back through the sauce in the pressure cooker with the coriander and stir to combine.
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Meanwhile, prepare the Arepa dough by placing 2 ½ cups of warm water into a bowl with salt and olive oil. Stir until dissolved. Slowly add the Harina PAN to the bowl, stirring, breaking any little balls of flour, until all combined. Cover with a tea towel and rest for 5 minutes.
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Add some olive oil to your hands and roll into approx. 6 equal size balls. Shape each ball into a flat 1cm-thick Arepas.
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Heat a griddle or a cast iron pan over medium heat. Add the Arepas and cook for 5 minutes one each side until golden brown.
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Slice open along the Arepa to form a pocket and fill it up with shredded beef, black beans and top with crumbled feta cheese.