Cheese Arepitas

📝 Ingredients

• 150 g pre-cooked maize flour
• 220 ml lukewarm water
• 60 g grated Emmental
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil (for the pan)
• 1 tin black beans (240 g drained)
• 1 tomato (about 120 g)
• 10 g fresh coriander
• ½ lime (for the juice)
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Mixing bowl
• Large non-stick frying pan
• Spatula
• Fork
• Paring knife
• Clean tea towel

📖 Steps

1. Pour the lukewarm water into the large bowl with a good pinch of salt. Sprinkle in the maize flour, mixing with your fingers to avoid lumps, then work in the grated Emmental. Knead for 2 min, until you have a soft dough that doesn't stick to your hands.
2. Leave the dough to rest for 5 min under the tea towel: the flour finishes absorbing the water. If it cracks when pressed, add 1 tbsp water; if it sticks to your fingers, add a spoonful of maize flour.
3. Divide the dough into 16 balls the size of a large walnut, about 27 g each. Flatten them between your palms into small patties 5 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick, then smooth any cracked edges with a damp fingertip.
4. Make the filling: drain and rinse the black beans, then roughly mash them with a fork with the cumin, the juice of the half lime, salt and pepper. Keep a few beans whole for texture.
5. Halve the tomato, scoop out the seeds and juice with a spoon, then cut the flesh into small dice. Chop the coriander and mix everything into the mashed beans. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
6. Lightly oil the frying pan with kitchen paper soaked in oil and heat it over a medium heat. Cook the arepitas in a single layer, in two batches, for 5 to 6 min per side without moving them, until a golden crust forms and they sound hollow when tapped.
7. Don't turn up the heat to speed things up: the crust would burn before the centre is cooked. Oil the pan again between batches and keep the first arepitas warm under the tea towel.
8. Leave to cool for 2 min, then slit each arepita open with the small knife three quarters of the way round, like a pocket, without separating the two halves. Fill with a heaped spoonful of the bean mixture and serve warm.