Two Ingredient Arepas Guajiras (Colombian Corn Cake With Cheese)

There's a huge variety of arepas found across Colombia and Venezuela. These ones are based on a version of arepas Guajiras they make at Abasto, one of my favorite restaurants in Bogotá.

They're perfect quarantine food because they're made with just two ingredients: canned hominy and cheese. Hominy is also pretty easy to find now because people seem to be going for the canned soups. Every market I've been to has had cans and cans of the stuff. Cotija cheese is my stand in for queso costeño, which I can't find in the U.S. If even cotija is hard to find, you can use a cheap, crumbly feta.

If you don't have a meat grinder, you can use a food processor to pulse the drained hominy and cheese.

To make them, drain a can of hominy and add to it about 30% of its weight in a hard, crumbly, aged cheese such cotija or feta. Feed through a meat grinder fitted with the largest die, or pulse in a food processor until the pieces of corn are about 1/8-inch or so (half a centimeter-ish). Knead the mixture lightly, form it into cakes with your hands, then place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake in a preheated 425-450°F (225-235°C) oven. Bake until browned like a biscuit. Eat them with sour cream. The closest to Colombian suero I can find is Mexican or Salvadoran crema.

Видео Two Ingredient Arepas Guajiras (Colombian Corn Cake With Cheese) канала J. Kenji López-Alt