There are a few things I protect as staunchly as my studio apartment’s kitchen counter space. I fiercely, if foolishly, refuse to buy a food processor, insisting on chopping everything from mirepoix to pesto with a sharp knife and some elbow grease. I’ve abandoned dreams of indoor barbecues, deeming a cast-iron griddle pan too cumbersome to store. But after trying homemade arepas, the stuffed corn patties that are a staple of Venezuelan and Colombian cuisine, I decided that my kitchen needed an arepa maker. Now I’m here to say that yours does, too.
I knew little of arepas until two Christmases ago, when I teared up reading my friend Gisela Salim-Peyer’s article about why she could no longer go back to her native Venezuela. In it, she wrote of the humanitarian crisis preventing her from seeing her family, and reminisced about happier Christmases in Caracas replete with olive-studded hallacas, plantains, and her favorite: arepas.
After her article came out, Gisela made arepas for me, wetting the masarepa, or pre-cooked corn flour, to form a dough that she shaped into balls. She then placed them into the circular molds of an apparatus that resembled a CD player but was in fact the IMUSA 6-Slot Nonstick Arepa Maker. It produced six arepas within a few minutes, and without the hassle of frying each one. I was instantly hooked, and began doing the math of utility-versus-storage in my studio apartment. According to my calculations, an arepa maker was worth it.
I bought the four-slot version because I live alone. Just as Gisela’s six-slot griddle did, it yields arepas that are crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and have as many possibilities as sandwich bread. And since each mold makes a five-inch arepa, it’s the perfect portion for one.
The appliance typically sits on my kitchen counter next to my Keurig, compact enough to stash away during the occasional deep clean. My arepas stand up to the bounty of leftover ragus in my fridge and breathes new life into last-leg avocados and late-night fried eggs. I’ve made arepa sloppy joes and breakfast sandwiches, and found that I like them best with butter and queso fresco. I’ve also discovered that the arepa maker isn’t a single-use appliance: it also makes pancakes, perfectly fried eggs, and mini frittatas with various toppings (think spam and scallions); according to the product site, it can also be used for hash browns and cornbread.
Even though Venezuela is not my home, my arepa maker nourishes me with homey, heartwarming meals. I only hope that the Peyer-Salim family can forgive me for slathering ragu or daal on the arepas that come out of it.
Mehr Singh is a food and culture reporter based in New York. Her work appears in Bon Appétit, Food52, MR Magazine, and other publications.
