Reina Pepiada

This is a famous filling for the Arepa. A famously popular food eaten in Colombia and Venezuela. This filling is pulled chicken with avocado, mayo, and is silky smooth yet refreshing.

It’s also great on toast, on itself, or as a side.

Ingredients

• chicken breast

• avocado

• red bell pepper

• lemon

• cilantro

• black pepper

• garlic cloves

• mayonaise

Preparation

Start by cutting up your red bell peppers as small as you can. You can opt for tiny cubes or short tiny ribbons. Then finely chop up your cilantro and garlic and put them all together in a bowl.

Cube up the avocado and sprinkle it with some lemon juice to keep it from browning up. You might want to delay cutting the avocado until after you have the chicken ready to minimize the time it spends out in the air.

Cooking

Cook the chicken breast in water. Timing the cooking of chicken is always a bit hard but I suggest to go 20 minutes, fish it out and then cut it in half. No pink allowed.

When the chicken is done you put it on a cutting board and grab two forks. Tear it apart like you’re wolverine. Even if you think it’s pulled enough you should keep going for a bit longer. Let the chicken cool for a bit.

Put all the ingredients together in a bowl and add mayonaise liberally. I prefer to add a bit, taste, add a bit more until you get that creamy salad feel. Mix in any herbs and spices you prefer (pepper, perhaps some others?) and then add in the lemon juice.

Stir well and ready to serve.

Photos