Venezuelan arepas with avocado chicken salad (Reina pepiada)

1. Boil the chicken breast in salted water for 20 minutes, cool and shred finely with a fork.

2. Scoop out the avocados and roughly mash with a fork with the lime juice; add the mayonnaise, very finely chopped red onion and chopped coriander and season with salt and pepper.

3. Fold in the chicken until you have a creamy, greenish salad; refrigerate.

4. For the arepas, gradually add the precooked cornmeal (masarepa) to the lukewarm salted water, knead for 2-3 minutes until smooth, rest for 5 minutes, then divide into 6 and flatten into 1.5 cm thick discs.

5. Cook in a lightly oiled heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat for 6-7 minutes per side until crusted and hollow-sounding when tapped.

6. Split the hot arepas at the side and fill generously with the cold avocado chicken salad; serve straight away.

Tip: "Reina pepiada" – "curvy queen" – was named in honour of Venezuela's 1955 Miss World, Susana Duijm; today it's one of Caracas's most popular arepa fillings.