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Tacacho

Green plantain roasted rather than boiled, then pounded with pork fat and pressed into balls.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

Method

  1. THE PLANTAIN IS ROASTED AND THEN POUNDED WITH PORK FAT. Roasted over coals or in a hot oven in its skin until the outside is blackened and the inside is soft, never boiled. Boiling waterlogs it: the mash goes wet and slack and will not hold a ball, and it tastes of nothing. Roasted, the plantain dries out and concentrates, and it takes up the fat instead of water.
  2. GREEN PLANTAIN, NOT RIPE, and not banana. Hard, unyielding and bright green. A yellow one is sweet and will make a sticky sweet mash, which is a different thing entirely and the commonest way this goes wrong at a supermarket.
  3. IT IS POUNDED WITH THE RENDERED FAT AND THE CRACKLING PIECES TOGETHER. The pork belly is diced and fried until the fat has run and the pieces are crisp, and both go into the mortar -- the fat to bind it and the crisp bits to be found in it. Pounded with butter or oil instead it is smooth and bland.
  4. IT IS POUNDED HOT AND FAST. A mortar or a sturdy bowl and the end of a rolling pin. Cooled, green plantain sets hard and will not come together at all.
  5. AND IT IS LEFT COARSE. Lumps and pieces are correct. Worked to a purée it becomes gluey, which is what a processor does to it in four seconds.
  6. THEN PRESSED INTO BALLS with wet hands while still warm, firm enough to hold and not compacted.
  7. Pork belly diced small and fried in a dry pan over a medium heat 10 minutes until the fat has run and the pieces are crisp. Both kept.
  8. Plantains roasted IN THEIR SKINS at 200C for 35 to 40 minutes, or over coals, until the skins are black and split and the flesh gives completely.
  9. Peeled while hot, which is easier than it sounds once the skin has split.
  10. The flesh put in a mortar or sturdy bowl with the garlic, salt and pepper.
  11. POUNDED HOT with the end of a rolling pin, the rendered fat added a spoonful at a time, until it comes together.
  12. The crisp pork pieces and the coriander pounded through briefly, so they stay as pieces.
  13. Tasted and salted -- it needs more than seems likely.
  14. Pressed into balls with wet hands while warm.
  15. Served at once with cecina or fried pork and salsa criolla as on its own page.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Peru · All recipes