My mom, my sister, and I fell in love with homemade arepas when I was in high school. We used to make them to go with South American/Mexican-style dishes (i.e. refried beans or corn), but we'd also eat them as a starchy side dish with main course salads. When you fry them, which I'm not actually certain is the authentic way to make arepas, they develop a lovely crust on the outside and an almost creamy consistency on the inside. And when you add cubed fresh mozzarella to the arepa batter, you wind up with delicious gooey, stringy, melty cheese in every bite. You do have to be careful to keep a hot pan when frying, as the copious cheese can stick to the pan and make the arepas hard to flip.

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