Venezuelan Staple in Successful Transplant

Orange County justifiably prides itself on a great diversity in ethnic cuisine, but when was the last time you stopped by your neighborhood arepas stand for a snack?

Odds are that one of the few places in the county you can get your hands on this succulent Venezuelan national dish is if Odoardo (O.D.) Lopez invites you to dinner. If that happens, by all means accept.

Basically, arepas are something like jelly doughnuts stuffed instead with anything from cheese to chicken, pork or beef--and always butter, lots of butter. As you would find taco stands on most every corner in Mexico City, so you would find arepas stands on every corner of Caracas.

There they are made fresh, and customers are offered their choice of varied fillings, much like some of the fancy omelet bars found in this country.

Until recently, the dish was even a relative rarity around the Lopez house, available for only a short period after he received a package of special white corn flour from his mother in Caracas. But Lopez, a 26-year-old Porsche master mechanic, has finally figured out how to adapt the recipe and use the more common corn flour ( masa ) found in most supermarkets.

“Other Venezuelans here have told me it wasn’t possible to use masa , and for a long time I believed them,” he said. “I even tried but always wound up with this messy, awful-tasting stuff.”

Then he noticed the flour sent by his mother (a brand named P.A.N.) said on the package that it was precooked. After some experimentation he found a way to cook masa so the final product almost exactly matched the kind made with P.A.N.

P.A.N. is mixed with warm water and worked with the hands until it is shaped like a ball, then set aside in a covered bowl for 15 to 20 minutes, then halved and reworked until you have two balls. “It’s important that you smear butter all over your hands to do this,” he said, a trick he learned from watching the family cook make arepas at home.

Each ball is pressed with the palms of the hands until it is the shape of a jelly doughnut, then placed in a preheated non-stick frying pan and cooked over medium heat, turned every 5 minutes (twice each) until a thick crust is formed on both sides.

Now, they are ready for baking in a very hot (450 degrees) oven for 30-35 minutes. When finished, they’re cut in half (“you scoop out some of the center and put some butter on it and eat it right away”), and filled, first with butter, of course, closed back up like a hamburger and served steaming hot.

Lopez said the secret to using the more common masa involves interrupting the process for about 15 minutes after the first ball has been made and allowed to sit: “Drop it in boiling salted water. It sinks at first, but after a while rises to the top. That’s when it’s done, and you can go ahead with the process. They’re ready for the frying pan.”

He said that in Venezuela, arepas serve as everything from snacks to main dishes. “We’ll have them for breakfast with just butter and cheese, as a side dish with eggs and refried black beans. For lunch, they’re like a sandwich, and for a main course we’ll fill them with shredded beef, stir-fried chicken or pork and vegetables--sauteed onions, bell peppers and tomatoes.”

Lopez doesn’t consider himself much of a cook “until I get a craving for something from home and know that the only way I’ll get it is to cook it.”

An expert tennis player (he was offered a full scholarship from a major university), he also loves surfing. It was what first brought him to California, he said. When he was 19, he checked into Dr. Dorian Paskowitz’s well-known surfing camp at San Onofre and “fell in love with this state.”

The seventh of eight sons, he first came to the United States when he was 16. “My father wanted all of us educated here,” he said. “When each of us reached 16, we would be asked where we wanted to go in the U.S. to finish high school and go to college.”

Lopez chose Florida and completed two years of studies at the University of Florida before signing up for the surf camp.

And while all of his older brothers are back in Venezuela practicing various professions, he figures he will stay here for a while longer. He has two more years of college to complete, and “that could take a while.”

Besides: “I love the American people and your system.”

One of the few things America lacks, he said, are arepas stands. Who knows, he said, maybe he will open one himself.

O.D. LOPEZ’S AREPAS

Ingredients

1 cup masa

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Stir salt in warm water and mix in flour. Work well with hands and shape into one large ball. Place in bowl, cover and let stand 15-20 minutes. Bring several quarts of water to boil and place ball in water. Leave in water until ball pops to surface, then remove and cool. When cool, work again with buttered hands, separating into two balls. Heat nonstick frying pan over medium heat and place one ball in pan after pressing with palms of hands until it is about the shape of a doughnut. Cook five minutes a side, being careful not to burn. Turn twice. Place in preheated (450 degrees) oven on rack and bake 30-35 minutes.

Serving

Cut in half while hot and scoop small portion out of one half. Add butter, cheese or filling of choice. Suggested fillings would include stir-fried meat and vegetables.