The dish is said to have started in order to use up left over ingredients. The rice and beans are mixed together, seasoned with other ingredients like onions, garlic, oregano. The mixture is then fried into a pattie and served alongside whatever accompaniment you would like. I enjoyed my tacu tacu: it had a nice crispy outside and a soft inside.
This food is deeply (very) connected with Peruvian history. Long-grain rice, the white rice most commonly used in this dish, was brought from to Peru Europe by Spanish and Protugese colonizers hundreds of years ago. The nameTacu tacu is said to come from the indigenous language of Quechua, and is a variation of the work takuy which means "to mix one thing with another" (such as rice and beans!). Peruvian history tells us that it was enslaved Africans who were forced to work in Perú who came up with the dish. Tacu tacu is now a favorite in Perú, popular throughout the country.
