On most mornings I’ll eat one of four things for breakfast: cereal, yogurt, waffles or maybe oatmeal. Tasty things to be sure but it’s easy to get burned out with the repetition. I like American staples like eggs and pancakes but variety is key. Thankfully after some amazing arepas at Bogota Latin Bistro during Brooklyn Restaurant Week earlier in the year I was inspired to pick up some premade arepas at the local grocery store to have for breakfast.

La Fe Arepas de Choclo are sold in packs of four ($3.49, but prices vary). They’re the sweet yellow corn variety which I think is preferable to white corn. They’re circular, flat and have a similar thickness as a pancake. Perhaps because they’re made with milk powder they stay nice and moist. The flavor is in the vicinity of a really good corn muffin but less crumbly. These are basically sweet corncakes.

Per the instructions on the package you can actually throw these in the toaster or the oven. I prefer the stovetop because the sweet smell spreads throughout the kitchen. All you have to do is add a little oil to the pan, heat to medium and throw on the arepas. Cook each side 5-7 minutes. If you rush it they can turn out a little grainy. You eat them in several ways. Today I improvised some salsa to eat with it.

Arepas on the pan.

Arepa with improvised salsa

For the salsa: While the arepa is cooking, chop ½ a medium tomato, 1 tablespoon red onion, a pinch of salt, a shake of black pepper, a pinch of cumin (optional), a shake of chili powder and a touch of lime juice.  Throw them all into a bowl and mash up slightly.  Note: If you have tomatillo and cilantro you’ll want to add of a little of each of these in as well and make it decidedly more tasty.

Other serving suggestions that I like:
-butter or butter and jam
-ham and/or cheese
-guacamole

How do you like to eat them?