Mashed Plantain Balls with Smoked Pork (Tacacho con Cecina)
Roasted-fried green plantains mashed with garlicky pork fat and pressed into rustic balls, served next to crispy smoked Amazonian pork and a bright onion-tomato salad. A hearty jungle classic that tastes like a wood fire even when made in a city kitchen.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Peel the plantains
Cut off both ends of each plantain, then run a knife through the skin lengthwise in 3–4 shallow cuts without cutting into the flesh. Soak in warm salted water for 5 minutes, then peel away the skin with your fingers; this loosens the sticky sap and makes peeling much easier. Cut each plantain into 2–3 large chunks.
- 1.3 kg (about 4) green plantains
✅ Done when: all plantains are peeled and cut into chunks, with no skin left clinging
Fry until soft
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat to about 170°C (340°F) — just enough to coat the pan generously, about 5 mm deep. Fry the plantain chunks for 15–18 minutes, turning them occasionally, until deep golden outside and a knife slides in with no resistance, meaning they are fully soft inside, not just browned. Drain on paper towel but keep hot; they need to be warm to mash well.
- 1.3 kg (about 4) plantain chunks (from step 1)
- 125 ml (½ cup) vegetable oil
✅ Done when: deep golden outside and a knife tip slides in easily
Flavor the pork fat
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Mash and shape
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Crisp the cecina
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Dress the salad and serve
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Peel the plantains
Cut off both ends of each plantain, then run a knife through the skin lengthwise in 3–4 shallow cuts without cutting into the flesh. Soak in warm salted water for 5 minutes, then peel away the skin with your fingers; this loosens the sticky sap and makes peeling much easier. Cut each plantain into 2–3 large chunks.
- 1.3 kg (about 4) green plantains
✅ Done when: all plantains are peeled and cut into chunks, with no skin left clinging
Fry until soft
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat to about 170°C (340°F) — just enough to coat the pan generously, about 5 mm deep. Fry the plantain chunks for 15–18 minutes, turning them occasionally, until deep golden outside and a knife slides in with no resistance, meaning they are fully soft inside, not just browned. Drain on paper towel but keep hot; they need to be warm to mash well.
- 1.3 kg (about 4) plantain chunks (from step 1)
- 125 ml (½ cup) vegetable oil
✅ Done when: deep golden outside and a knife tip slides in easily
Flavor the pork fat
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Mash and shape
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Crisp the cecina
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Dress the salad and serve
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The Story Behind the Dish
Tacacho grew out of the Amazonian tradition of cooking green plantains over an open wood fire until charred and soft, then pounding them with pork fat in a wooden mortar. It was a practical way to turn a starchy, abundant local crop into a filling, energy-dense food for people working long days in the fields or on the river.
Cecina, the smoked and salt-cured pork served alongside it, comes from the same need to preserve meat in a hot, humid climate without refrigeration. Over time the pairing of soft, smoky plantain balls with salty, crisp pork became one of the signature combinations of jungle cooking, eventually spreading from home kitchens to roadside stalls and restaurants across Peru.
⭐ Why It's Famous
Tacacho con cecina is considered one of the most representative dishes of Peru's Amazon region, prized for the contrast between the smoky, mellow plantain and the salty, crispy pork.
💡 Fun Fact
The word tacacho comes from a Quechua term meaning to pound or crush, a nod to the mortar-and-pestle technique still used to make it today.
Peruvian Amazon, particularly the regions around Tarapoto and the San Martín area
-6.49°S, -76.37°W
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