Tacu Tacu con Atún Picante

Rice & Bean Patties with Spicy Tuna

When I make dishes like this, it reminds me what I love about cooking the food of my country. Tacu tacu is rooted in Afro-Peruvian traditions. There is such a rich history there, and it is also a very humble one. Slaves had to piece together whatever leftover ingredients they had to stretch a meal, and many of those dishes, like these rice and bean cakes, were incredibly good and creative. The spicy tuna topping is my addition, and very much the influence of my days working the sushi line in London restaurants. I love the contrast in flavors and textures, with the comforting rice and bean cakes and the light, spicy chilled tuna on top. These are very nice for a party, as you can make the cakes ahead and serve them at room temperature.

You can use virtually any beans in this dish, and almost any type of rice or quinoa. I’ve made these with garbanzos, canarios (mayocoba beans), and pallares, lima beans, as here. Even canned beans are good here for a quick weeknight supper (leftovers are even better). The only trick is to make the cakes small enough so they hold together, and chill them for several hours before frying them up. I use sushi molds, which are pretty easy to find, or you could use small round cookie cutters.

I usually blast the top of the rocoto aioli with a cooking torch for a few seconds so it gets caramelized in spots, but you can just add a dollop of the aioli on top, al fresco–style.

• 1 cup homemade chicken or vegetable broth (see page 40) or low-sodium store-bought broth
• 3 tablespoons Salsa Madre (page 196)
• About 2½ cups cooked rice
• About 1½ cups cooked lima, canario (mayocoba), great northern, or other white beans (page 212), drained well
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil
• About 1 cup spicy tuna (see page 73)
• Rocoto aioli (see page 38)
• 1 serrano chile, thinly sliced
• 2 or 3 scallions, finely chopped

1 Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until hot, a good 2 minutes. Add the stock and cook until reduced by half (about 5 minutes), then add the salsa madre and sauté, stirring continuously, until the sauce smells aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the rice and beans and continue to cook, stirring regularly, until the broth has been absorbed by the rice and beans, about 5 minutes. (If any excess broth remains, strain the rice and beans.) Season the rice mixture with salt and pepper and let the mixture cool completely.

2 Preheat the oven to 250°F. Line a baking sheet with a few layers of paper towels. Shape the rice mixture into 8 medium patties or twenty-four 1 x 2-inch rectangles by pressing them firmly into ring molds or sushi molds. Make sure to press the mixture into the molds firmly with your hands so the patties hold together when pan-fried. Remove the patties from the molds and arrange them on a plate. Repeat the shaping process with the remaining rice mixture.

3 Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet (preferably nonstick) over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking, about 2 minutes. Add a few of the tacu tacu patties (don’t overcrowd the pan) and sauté until very light golden brown on the bottom, about 2 minutes. Use a spatula to gently flip the patties and fry the opposite side until light brown, about 1½ minutes more. (If the patties fall apart as you fry them, press the remaining patties together firmly with your hands before frying and be careful when flipping.) Transfer to the lined baking sheet. If not serving immediately, put the baking sheet in the oven while you continue to fry the remaining patties. You can leave the fried patties at room temperature for up to 2 hours before topping and serving.

4 To serve, spoon about 2 teaspoons of spicy tuna on top of each sushi-size patty or divide the tuna among the larger patties. Drizzle each with a little rocoto aioli, and place a serrano slice or two on top. Sprinkle the minced scallions all over the tacu tacu and the serving platter and serve inmediatamente.