Peruvian Cuisine Glossary: Tacu Tacu

Tacu Tacu: One of the most simple and delicious dishes of Peruvian cuisine, tacu tacu is a tortilla or tamale made from leftover beans and rice, seasoned with onions, garlic and hot peppers, and fried in vegetable oil.

Allegedly tacu tacu was invented by black Africans brought during the Viceroyalty to work as slaves on the coastal plantations. The ingenious reuse of leftover beans and rice resulted in a very economical and nutritious dish, and complemented a diet that was probably scarce and meagre.

The traditional tacu tacu is thus a humble dish, usually crowned with a fried egg and flanked with a colourful stripe of deep fried banana.

However, over the years tacu tacu has evolved and sharpened up -the same can be said about Peruvian cuisine. If originally it was made from leftover beans and rice –and accompanied with fried eggs and bananas–, now it’s prepared on-the-moment with beans, chickpeas, lentils, or Lima beans (depending on the chef’s inclinations), and accompanied with foie gras or prawn sauce, stuffed with seafood, or served as a side dish to the most flamboyant of meats.

Tacu tacu recipe.

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