Arepas with Huevos Perico (Venezuelan Corn Cakes with Perico Eggs)

Huevos Pericos con Arepas

(Perico eggs with corn cakes)

By: Chef Cristian Feher

www.tampabaychef.com

When we decided to do a cooking segment on the Good Day Show featuring eggs, the first recipe that came to mind was Huevos Perico with Arepas. I grew up eating this tantalizing Venezuelan staple.

Huevos Perico translates to “Parrot Eggs”. And Arepas are fried corn cakes, made with pre-cooked corn flour. Now, don’t let the initial translation alarm you. This dish is made with chicken eggs. The “parrot” refers to the colorful end product you get by adding fresh parsley, tomato, onions and garlic to the eggs.

The arepas are very versatile. They are traditionally deep-fried or pan-fried with oil, but I like to cook them in my electric arepa maker with just a tiny spray of oil to lower the calories. You can find electric arepa makers online at Amazon.com.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients for the Huevos Perico

- 6 eggs

- 1/2 cup of diced onion

- 4 garlic cloves

- 1 cup of fresh diced tomato

- 1/8 tsp of ground cumin

- 1 tsp of dried parsley

- plenty of salt and pepper to taste

- olive oil

Instructions:

1. In a non-stick skillet, begin to cook all the ingredients with a little olive oil. Cook the mixture for 7 to 10 minutes.

2. Add the eggs, scramble and cook until the eggs are cooked. I like my huevos perico soggy, but you can cook them well done.

3. Next, you will stuff the arepas with this mixture (recipe for arepas below)

Ingredients for arepas

NOTE: It’s important to use the right product. Try to find Pan brand pre-cooked corn flour.

- 3 cups of corn flour

- 4 cups of warm water

- 2 tsp of salt

Instructions:

1. Mix water, salt and the flour and knead by hand for a few minutes until it’s all well-incorporated. I usually have to end up adding a little more warm water, as I like my dough softer than the package instructions.

2. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

3. Form tennis-ball-sized spheres of dough with your hands, and flatten them to 3/4 inch-thick discs. Fry these discs in a pan with oil or deep fat fryer for 7 minutes or until light golden color. Or you can cook them in an electric arepa maker with just a spray of oil.

4. When the arepas are done (this is a Venezuelan skill!) hold the arepa with a napkin and cut into it with a knife almost all the way through the middle. You will want to open it as if it’s a clam. Scoop the dough from the inside and set aside (you can eat it or throw it out) and you should be left with a crispy shell (top and bottom connected. Fill this shell with the huevos perico, cheese, and whatever else your heart desires. Enjoy!

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A bomb best diffused with your mouth: Venezuelan Street Food

A bomb best diffused with your mouth: The Venezuelan Bomba
By: Chef Cristian Feher
http://www.tampabaychef.com/

View of Caracas, Venezuela at night.

Have you ever had a meal that burned itself into your memory? Can you recall the taste, the texture, the conversation? Can you feel the breeze caress your skin? Does the mention of that meal transport you back in time to that moment?

I have had several of these life-altering moments. Each of these meals were a meaningful event. A pinnacle of culinary discovery and sensation. A moment in time so thoroughly enjoyable that I snatched it from the universe and locked it away in my mind to be kept, admired, savored and remembered forever. Mine, all mine.

For some it’s the art. For others it’s the architecture or the culture. For me, it’s the food. And rightly so - food is art, and much could be known about a culture simply by its food.

We sped along a winding freeway weaving our way through the heart of Caracas. Warm air rushing into the car. The raspy sound of night traffic as people made their way to clubs, restaurants and parties was somehow soothing to my ears. The bright lights of a city that stretches out through a great valley light up the dark sky. In spite of the car exhaust and sewage, the smells of perfume, tropical plants and mountain soil all mix together to create an aroma that makes me happy. I like Caracas. I miss it.

My heart raced as we began to climb up a steep, winding road. We drove higher and higher into the hills. The air growing more cool and fresh with every turn. At last we arrived. “Calle de hambre” is literally translated to mean “Hunger street.” Rudimentary outdoor restaurants, food trucks and stands. Where Caraqueños would swarm in the late hours of the night to satiate their ravenous hunger and sober up after a long night of festivities, partying and having fun. It was 11:30pm when we arrived, the “early-bird” hour. We had all the stands to ourselves. The proprietors were busy cooking and prepping, having opened their shops only two hours ago.

Standing next to a picnic table with my friends, overlooking a city of lights below, and the stars above, is where I had my first Bomba.

A Bomba “Bomb” is not for the faint of heart. It is a marvel of engineering and a culinary feat of prowess and strength. A soft-steamed over sized hamburger bun filled with a fresh ground beef patty, fried ham steak, grilled pork shoulder, Swiss cheese, coleslaw, alfalfa sprouts, shredded lettuce, sliced ripe tomato, pickles, thinly sliced crispy onions and avocado with a fried egg thrown in there for good luck. Eating it is just as complex. As you consume this culinary juggernaut, you continuously squirt it with a combination of garlic sauce, ketchup, mustard and tahini mayo.

As I stood there looking out onto an ocean of shining lights, cradling my paper-wrapped Bomba, I distinctly recall a tear streaming down my face - a tear of joy. “This is life.” I thought to myself. If you have ever wondered how people can put up with a fascist president, communism, capitalism, inflation, rampant crime and poverty, it’s because of this sandwich - the $4 Bomba. This sandwich makes life worth living. When you’re sharing a Bomba on a breezy hill under a tropical sky, the problems of life dissipate into trivial murmurs. I doubt rapid gun fire could rip your attention away from a proper Bomba once you’ve embarked on the intricate journey of devouring it with all four sauces.

I have no recollection of how I got home that night.

This is the closest I can get to reproducing a Bomba here in America. It’s not the same without the city lights, the mountain air, the car exhaust, distant gun shots, and the company of my good friends. But it comes pretty close.

Venezuelan Bomba Recipe:

Yields: 1 big F*#@ beauty of a sandwich!

Ingredients for the Bomba:
- An over sized hamburger bun (I sometimes make bread-dough and custom bake them extra big)
- ¼ Lb of ground beef (seasoned with salt, pepper, soy sauce, and liquid smoke)
- 1 ham steak
- ⅓ cup of thin-sliced roast pork shoulder (for faster recipe, use pork tenderloin and grill with Cajun seasoning)
- Alfalfa Sprouts
- Shredded Lettuce
- Swiss Cheese
- Tomato
- Kelapo Virgin Coconut Oil
- Kosher pickle slices
- Fried Onion slices
- Coleslaw
- Avocado

Instructions:

1. If you’re baking your bun, you can use pizza dough or bread dough. These sandwiches turn out even better when the bun is warm and fresh-baked.

2. Have all your ingredients diced, sliced, and prepped.

3. Take a deep breath. Do some P90X. Buy your wife something nice.

4. Put a tbsp of Kelapo Virgin Coconut Oil on a skillet and fry your burger patty (flatten it), fry the ham steak and throw in the pre-cooked slices of roast pork.

5. Begin to assemble your sandwich and finish it off with a fried egg.


The Sauces:

This is my rendition of the sauces

Garlic Sauce: Mayonnaise with a tonne of fresh minced garlic and parsley.

Mustard: Yellow mustard.

Ketchup: Ketchup (made with sugar - don’t use the stuff made with high fructose corn syrup)

Tahini Mayo: Mayonnaise mixed with a little bit of tahini (sesame seed paste) and black pepper to taste.