Earlier this year, my husband and I visited the island of Aruba. Aruba is truly breathtaking – from the beaches, to the landscape, to the Dutch architecture – we loved it all! I especially loved how safe the island felt – something you don’t always get when visiting a Caribbean island. We felt safe exploring outside of our hotel area and I even spent a few mornings jogging outdoors on my own.
When we travel, we like to stay away from hotel restaurants in favour of local joints where we can have a taste of authentic, local food. This is usually a cheaper alternative as well. We are pretty experimental when it comes to dining out. We often order things off the menu that we’ve never heard of before or can even pronounce – we probably make a big fool of ourselves in the process! It’s fun to take a taste test of an unknown plate and guess what it is or what it’s made of.
One of the foods we discovered while in Aruba was called cachapas. We had a chance to try this dish when we stopped by a little road side stand that was owned by a Colombian couple. We had no idea what cachapas were and there was a communication barrier, so we just picked a couple of things that sounded interesting on the menu.
We found out that cachapas are corn-based wraps kind of like crepes that are usually filled with cheese or meat. The particular cachapa we ordered was filled with chicken. Traditionally, cachapas are eaten savory style like this, but since the cachapa itself was pretty sweet, I thought I would re-create this dish into a dessert dish – like a dessert crepe!
So when we got home, I looked up a recipe and modified it to be healthier than the traditional recipe. Cachapas are originally from Venezuela, but I guess that many South American cultures have some version of it. It turned out great and I’d love you to try it out.
Here’s a pic of cachapas I made and the recipe for you to try:
Cachapas
- 2 and 1/4 cups canned corn, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1 tbsp arrowroot
- 1/3 cup coconut, almond or soy milk
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1-2 pinches stevia or 1 tbsp honey if you like it a bit sweeter
- Combine all ingredients into food processor and process until you get a thick batter (it will be thicker than pancake batter and will not be as smooth – some lumps are okay)
- Set pan on low heat and coat with butter or coconut oil
- Drop a couple of spoonfuls of batter onto the pan and spread thin using the edge of a spatula to create 3 inch rounds (see video below)
- Heat for about 2 minutes on each side until lightly browned
- Serve immediately with toppings such as berries, natural nut butters, shredded coconut, healthy jams, cocoa, cinnamon – use your imagination!
Here’s the video I shot showing you how I spread it out evenly:
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And here are some other pics that show you a bit about what we were up to and what Aruba is like. I love the Dutch style buildings in the main city. Hope you enjoy and oh, if you go, make sure to say hi to the donkeys for me. 🙂
Leave A Reply (8 comments so far)
Daryl
11 years ago
I appreciate all your recipes as they are simple too. However I am on such a strict regine at preset I cannot make most of them as they need to be raw xxxx But I love your ideas.
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Moon
11 years ago
Helen, do you have some preferred brands of organic, non-GMO Cornmeal that you would recommend and ditto for the canned corn?
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Jo Bulford
11 years ago
Thanku for all your lovely recipes (& for making them healthier 🙂 than original). Thanks also for posting those blissful photos of Aruba – never heard of it but makes me want to visit!
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Gerrie Johnnic
10 years ago
I am anxious to try this but would like to know how many servings this makes please.
Your video will not play!
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Opal Messier
10 years ago
OMG!!! I love the pic of the donkey close up!! I couldn’t stop laughing! Another great recipe to try out. Thank you .
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The Dessert Angel Reply:
February 2nd, 2014 at 9:00 am
Hehe yeah the donkies were very cute. 🙂
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Molly
10 years ago
These sound delicious!
Thanks for sharing!
I will try them with dinner tomorrow night.
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Nina
9 years ago
Where in Aruba was that??!! I have been trying to figure ot that picture becaus i am absolutely craving cachapaa…but your post is not informative at all regarding the spot!!! Pls if you kind of remember…..
Help a craver out! Hahahahah
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