Vegetarian Fajita Arepas

These vegetarian fajita arepas are Venezuelan flatbreads topped with black beans and fajita vegetables for a delicious and healthy meal!
I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Influence Central for P.A.N. Cornmeal. I received product samples as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.
Have you ever heard of arepas? I had not until recently but love to try new recipes such as this one. An arepa is a flatbread make of cooked dough in Columbia and Venezuela. It is filled with different toppings such as cheese, avocado, meat and more. For my photos, I had it open faced but you can put another arepa on top to eat as a sandwich or if you make them thicker, cut in half and stuff it.


For these, I knew that I wanted them to be filled with a bunch of flavors so I made a fajita-like filling for them. These are awesome! They were fun to make and I would make them again.
This recipe used P.A.N. cornmeal which I am an ambassador for. I love to try all different kinds of food and liked trying this. Arepas are a new to me dish and I think that they would make a fun meal addition. P.A.N. cornmeal is a newer product to the US but has been around for many years. For recipes using P.A.N. cornmeal, check out this link.




Ingredients:
For arepas
1 cup P.A.N. cornmeal
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped pickled Serrano peppers
2 teaspoons garlic powder



For filling
1 can no-added salt black beans
1/2 diced green pepper
1/2 diced red pepper
1/2 diced onion
1/4 cup frozen corn
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 lime, juiced

Directions:
1. Combine cornmeal, oil, peppers, garlic powder and water and stir until no lumps remain. Wait 5 minutes so mixture can hydrate.
2. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten to about 1/2 inch thick.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in pan, add 4 arepas, cover and cook until golden brown for about 4-5 minutes.
4. Uncover, flip and cook until the other side is golden brown.
5. Meanwhile, combine all of the ingredients for filling oven medium heat until heated.
7. Add in lime juice once ingredients are cooked.
8. Once everything is ready, place a couple of arepas on your plate and top with bean mixture.




These turned out so good and were actually quite easy to make. I put off making them for a bit because I thought that they would be very labor intensive but that was not the case. The arepa tasted so good that I actually at one on its own without any toppings. It is like a fried piece of dough- a mix between polenta and a tostada in my opinion. My fajita mixture was perfect, especially with the addition of the lime juice.


Troy loved the whole recipe and Adalyn enjoyed the bean mixture (the arepa was too spicy with the addition of the peppers). I will be making these again soon!

Enjoy! These are delicious as is but you can also top with salsa, hot sauce and/or sour cream (we used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream).