A Black Latin American Recipe – Tacu Tacu

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. March 14, 2022: In Peru, one of those recipes with deep African roots is Tacu Tacu.  The dish was created by African slaves working in the haciendas during colonial times, using leftovers to make a more complete and sustainable meal. Here’s how to make it according to Eat Peru.

Ingredients

2 cups uncooked navy beans or 4 cups of precooked canned navy beans (or mayocoba beans if available)

1½ cups white rice

½ large red onion

large tomato

1 teaspoon parsley chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 ½ tablespoon garlic paste

2 teaspoons ají amarillo chili pepper paste

4 eggs

4 plantains

4 fried steaks – optional

1 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Sarsa criolla relish (optional)

1 onion jullienned

1 small limo chili pepper finely chopped

1 teaspoon parsley finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon lime juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Soak the raw beans for overnight, adding a tablespoon of salt. Change the water and boil until soft (cooking time here will depend on the type of bean and cooking pot used, usually 1 to 2 hours).

Finely chop the onion, tomato and parsley for the tacu tacu.

Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the onion and garlic.

Sauté the ingredients for 2 minutes. olive oil onion and garlic. Add the oregano.

Add tomato and ají amarillo chili pepper paste to sauté for another 3 minutes or until cooked.

Turn off the heat, add the cooked beans, crushing them lightly, and mix well.

Add cooked beans and the rice.

Mix well. Leave the mixture to sit for at least 15 minutes for the ingredients to soak into the rice well (this is very important in order to achieve the right texture!).

Set aside the mixture, and for each individual serving, return about 2 cups of the mixture to a hot skillet with ½ a tablespoon of olive and lightly fry.

Make sure the mixture achieves a compact texture.

Prepare the sarsa criolla by mixing the jullienned red onion, finely chopped limo chili pepper, parsley, olive oil, lime juice and salt.

Serve the tacu tacu, topped with a fried egg (or steak, chicken, fish fillet or any other topping of your choice), a fried plantain, and the sarsa criolla onion relish.

Bon Appetite