Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Silken tofu with brown sugar syrup and tapioca pearls

From Street fare to breakfast flair: Taho
Taho or steamed silken tofu with brown sugar syrup and tapioca pearls is a very popular type of street food in the Philippines. When I was growing up in the Philippines, the taho vendor would make his rounds in my neighborhood every morning and my brother and I would buy a couple of huge bowls of his yummy concoction. A few weeks ago, I surprised my parents with my homemade taho. They said it's better than what they used to have back home.

I cooked the tapioca pearls and tofu separately. I boiled the tapioca pearls or "sago" until they were translucent and chewy/gummy in texture. Water naturally forms when you steam your tofu. Drain tofu and discard water before serving.


I made a brown sugar simple syrup or "arnibal" by boiling equal parts of brown sugar and water and then reducing it in half. I added good quality vanilla flavoring( use bourbon or Tahitian vanilla) to the syrup.

Ladle tofu first in a serving glass or bowl. Add tapioca pearls and then add the warm syrup on top.

5 comments:

Karen said...

Jen, is this liked that yummy tofu dessert we had at China Pearl one day last winter? That stuff was amazing...how do you steam the tofu?

Jen said...

Yes, the tofu at China Pearl was good too. The simple syrup for that one was infused with fresh ginger root. Make a simple syrup(equal parts of water and white sugar and reduce it in half with fresh ginger). As for the tofu, I place a bowl in a metal steamer.

Nina said...

This is so cool! :) I didn't realize I could make homemade taho. Toni loves taho but we're hesitant to buy from unsure sources.

Thanks for posting this. I hope I can find silken tofu here in Manila. I'll definitely try this :)

Lory said...

This idea of using silken tofu I heard first from my close friend Ana. We use the maple syrup (since we have lots of good quality maple syrup in our area, and we can buy them cheap in the grocery store.)

Jen said...

They make Chinese style "taho" with silken tofu at all the Dimsum restaurants in Boston's Chinatown. It's one of my favorite things to order when we go out for dimsum. They use ginger simple syrup. The maple syrup is good alternative too. I heard some folks even use pandan syrup or lanka syrup. The options are limitless. :-)