Poor Man's Tacu Tacu

This week we're in Peru! Only one person voted in the poll and they voted for Russian food but we were in the mood for something lighter. Also, I found this great cookbook!

I was at Costco a few weeks ago and saw this gorgeous cookbook on Peruvian cooking. It's huge and colorful so I was immediately drawn to it! Way to go marketing team! At roughly 430 pages, it's almost an encyclopedia and I was thiiiiis close to buying it when I saw the price tag. $30. Nope, not gonna happen. I just can't justify spending that much money on a cookbook, or any book for that matter. Anyway, I was at the library last week and lo and behold, the super pretty cookbook was right there, FOR FREE. Easy decision right there!

The first meal is Poor Man's Tacu Tacu. In Spanish it's Tacu Tacu A Lo Pobre. Tacu tacu is apparently a very popular dish in Peru that is made of rice and beans, shaped into a patty, and fried. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but my favorite food combination is rice and beans. Any kind of rice and beans. I'll eat them all! So I was pretty excited about this! Also, it's fried. I love fried food.

Ingredients

1 lb any dried bean except fava beans, soaked overnight. I used a cup of pinto beans and soaked for five hours.

4 tbsps olive oil

2 tbsps Yellow Chili, Garlic, and Onion Condiment. What is this? Some sauce. The book called for yellow chilies but I didn't have any so I used banana peppers. I blended some banana peppers and veggie oil and then fried that mixture with some red onions and garlic. It made a chunky sauce that I let cool and then added to the patties. It's not exactly like the book recommended but whatever, it was still good.

2 cups Peruvian white rice. Peruvian white rice is just white rice with a fried piece of garlic added during the boiling. Nothing fancy but super good!

1/2 cup chicken broth

Pinch of cumin

1 3/4 lb beef tenderloin, cut into four pieces

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs beaten

7 oz bread crumbs

1 cup veggie oil

S&P

Drain your soaked beans and boil in cold water for thirty minutes, or until tender. Once tender, drain, set aside 1/6 of the cooked beans, and blend the rest. Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the chili sauce. Add the whole beans, blended beans, and cooked rice to the pan; mix well. Gradually add the chicken broth, cumin, S&P. Cook until it has thickened and then remove from heat. Let it cool a bit and then divide into four portions. Shape each portion into a rectangle.

Heat some more oil and add the tacu tacus. Cook for four minutes on each side until brown. Set aside and keep warm.

Flatten the beef with a meat tenderizer. The book didn't say how flat but now that I've looked at pictures of this meal online, I know they meant very thin. I didn't flatten mine very well. Don't make my mistake. Season the pieces with S&P, coat in flour, then the egg, and then the crumbs. Heat some MORE oil and fry each piece, four minutes on each side.

This is normally served with fried bananas and a fried egg on top. I didn't make the egg part because I felt this was going to be more than enough food but I did fry a banana.

THIS WAS AMAZING! The tacu tacu reminded me of Gallo Pinto but tastier! I kept eating the mix when I was preparing it and noticed that it was drier after I fried it but I still loved it. I think it would have benefited from a sauce but that's about it. The meat was okay, nothing special, but the tacu tacu was fantastic! Even the girls ate it, BOTH OF THEM! I mean, granted the 3 year old smelled it first and said "NO!" but then I told her she could have some ice cream if she took just two bites. Two bites turned into eating the entire serving and her exclaiming "This is good, Mommy!" Success!