Cachapas (Venevuelan corn pancakes)
These savory pancakes are tender, moist and packed with corn flavor.
Servings: 8 pancakes, approximately
Calories: 170kcal
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Ingredients
- 2 cups corn ideally freshly cut from cobs but can use frozen, defrosted
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup milk
- 5 tablespoon arepa flour or more as needed, see notes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ tablespoon sugar
To cook and serve
- 2 tablespoon butter for cooking, or less/more as needed
- 6 oz queso de mano or Oaxaca or low moisture mozzarella cheese, approximately - optional
Instructions
- Blend together the corn kernels, egg, milk, arepa flour, salt and sugar in a food processor or blender to make a relatively smooth paste. It will likely still be slightly lumpy - that's fine - but you don't really want whole kernels or large fibrous pieces in there. Let the mixture rest for a good 5 minutes or so to help the flour absorb the moisture etc. After resting, stir to mix - the batter should flow but be on the thicker side (see below re making a test pancake and adjusting if needed).
- Before cooking, if you are going to add cheese in the middle (optional but really tasty!) I recommend cutting the cheese into slices before you cook so it's ready to go.
- Melt a piece of butter in a medium skillet/frying pan (I suggest nonstick but it doesn't have to be) over a medium heat. Once the butter is gently brown and bubbly, add a scoop of batter and allow it to spread slightly by itself. You can make them larger or smaller as you prefer, but I suggest around ¼ - ⅓ cup (60 - 80ml) is a good size to be easy to handle but still large enough to fold over with cheese inside. Note - I suggest cooking just one at first as a test to see if the batter is the right consistency. It should spread a little, but not be so soft you can't turn it easily or that it's too thin. Corn can vary in how juicy it is so you may need adjust with extra flour or milk.
- Cook the pancake for around 5 minutes until the edges are drying and the underside is golden brown. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes or so on the second side. If adding cheese filling, you can either add the cheese on one half or make two pancakes and sandwich - I think it looks better as one folded and for whatever reason, find they fold better when you flip them back to the first side which was cooked down. Add the cheese, fold over and cook a minute or two until the cheese is starting to melt (you can turn to the half that is facing up being down to help it warm evenly, as needed).
- Repeat cooking in batches - 2 or 3 at a time works well - until all the batter is used, keeping pancakes warm (or eating them!) as you go. If you don't add cheese then they are good served with some butter on top.
Notes
Be sure to use arepa flour (also called masarepa or harina PAN - either PAN or Goya are main brands available), not corn grits/corn starch/masa harina). Both white and yellow flours will work fine.
Corn can vary in how juicy it is and so you may need to adjust the flour or liquid accordingly. As in instructions, make a test pancake and see if it comes out about the right texture (it should be soft and tender but also not falling apart or too thin).
Queso de mano can be hard to find but alternatives of Oaxaca cheese or low moisture mozzarella work well too - I used Oaxaca here.
You may get more or less pancakes depending on size you make them, this is approximate.
Nutrition
Calories: 170kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 37mg | Sodium: 372mg | Potassium: 117mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 238IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 0.3mg
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