Latin AmericanComponent

Arepa-style Corn Cakes

An accessible supermarket-polenta route to crisp, soft-centred maize cakes for filling when specialist masarepa is unavailable.

Make-ahead
Hands-on22 minTotal time57 minEnergy Β· 100g105 kcalProtein Β· 100g2g
Recipe details

Equipment: Oven, Hob

Keep chilled after cooking

Arepa-Style Corn Cakes

How many corn cakes are you making?

This is a component used inside other recipes rather than a meal on its own, so it scales as a batch rather than per person. Make it from the method below, or use the same finished amount of a ready-made version.

Makes 2 corn cakes (about 354g in total).

Ingredients

Corn cakes

Pan

Now we make

Method

22 min hands-on 57 min altogether
  1. 1
    Set the oven to 190Β°C. Mix 100g instant polenta with Β½ tsp baking powder. Put 250ml freshly boiled water and 1 pinch salt in a small saucepan over low heat, rain in the polenta while whisking, then stir for 4-5 minutes until extremely thick and pulling away from the pan
    πŸ– 6 min
  2. 2
    Spread the cooked polenta on a plate and cool until safe to handle. With wet hands, divide it into 2 equal balls and flatten into compact discs about 1.5cm thick, smoothing any cracks around the edges
    πŸ– 3 minπŸ’€ 10 min unattended
  3. 3
    Brush a non-stick pan with 3ml olive oil. Cook the corn cakes over medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes per side until a golden crust forms, turning carefully with a broad spatula
    πŸ– 10 min
  4. 4
    Transfer to a lined tray and bake for 15-20 minutes until the centres feel firm enough to hold a filling
    πŸ– 1 minπŸ’€ 20 min unattended
  5. 5
    Cool for 5 minutes, then split each cake carefully with a small serrated knife.
    πŸ– 2 minπŸ’€ 5 min unattended

Look under the lid

Nutrition details

Nutrient density per 100g of this component - a %DV breakdown wouldn't mean much for something eaten in small amounts inside other recipes.

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Nutrition summary (per 100g)

At a glance

Higher inNo notable standouts

Calories

105kcal

8% cal

Protein

2.0g

82% cal

Carbs

21.5g

11% cal

Fat

1.3g

Small numbers, big impact

Everyday essentials

Fibre1.11g
Vitamin B120.00ΞΌg
Vitamin D0.00ΞΌg
Iodine0.00ΞΌg
Iron1.26mg
Zinc0.19mg
Calcium23.20mg
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