← Nouns Cooking · Brazilian & Peruvian

Ingredients

• 500 g cooked canary, navy or butter beans (2 tins, drained)
• 400 g cooked white rice
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for frying
• ½ Red onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tsp Ají amarillo paste
• 1 tsp Dried oregano
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 4 Eggs
• 2 ripe (yellow-black) plantains, peeled and sliced on the diagonal
• 1 red onion, for the salsa criolla, very thinly sliced
• 1 Lime, juiced
• 1 Red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp Coriander (cilantro), chopped

Method

1. For the salsa criolla, soak the sliced onion in cold salted water for 10 min to soften its bite. Drain, then toss with the lime juice, chilli, coriander and a pinch of salt.
2. Roughly mash half the beans with a fork, leaving the rest whole.
3. Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Fry the chopped onion for 4 min, then add the garlic, ají amarillo paste and oregano for 1 minute.
4. Add all the beans and cook for 3 min, then stir in the rice. Keep stirring and pressing for 3–4 min, until it all comes together into a thick, sticky mass. Season well and scoop it into a bowl.
5. Wipe out the pan, add 1 tbsp of oil and heat over medium-high. Add a quarter of the mixture and shape it with a spatula into a fat oval. Fry for 3–4 min per side, flipping carefully, until crusty and golden. Repeat with the rest, adding oil as needed.
6. Meanwhile, fry the plantain slices in a little oil for 2–3 min per side, until caramelised, and fry the eggs to your liking.
7. Serve each tacu tacu topped with a fried egg, with plantain and salsa criolla alongside.

Tips

• Leftover beans and rice from yesterday are perfect here, as long as the rice was cooled quickly, chilled within 1 hour and is no more than a day old.
• For tacu tacu a lo pobre, add a thin pan-fried steak to each plate.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Eat Peru Peru Delights