Strawberry Taho a la KarinderyaChef

Tahhhooooo!!! If you grew up in the streets of Metro Manila, it is most certain that you have heard this word being shouted by your friendly neighbourhood street peddler. With a loud, powerful voice full of bass resembling the vocal prowess of Pavarotti, one ends up in a mad dash out of their homes to buy this wonderful morning breakfast treat. Once in the street waiting your turn to get this wonderful concoction, you are in for a show! In a perfectly choreographed sequence much like a flairtender, the vendor will fill you cup with this white soy mixture and with his lighting fast hands top it with some Arnibal (Sugar syrup) and Sago (Tapioca pearls). Finally he mixes it all together with his long stemmed spoon serving you this marvelous Filipino breakfast. There is artistry in the way a Taho vendor prepares a cup for you that you gotta wonder if there’s like a secret code Taho vendors follow in selling their paninda(merchandise).

For me, taho has been a cheap, go to food source especially when I was a broke college student (now I’m just broke). It filled my hungry, grumbling stomach for just P10 (probably P20 now due to inflation). It provided me with protein when I was trying to lose weight and didn’t have money to buy expensive Protein shake powders.

I kinda miss Taho especially now that I’m overseas. A good friend of mine based in Canada, also an avid Taho fan, casually said that she got her fix by buying tofu and microwaving it. Me being curious had to try this out. And the funny thing is, she was right! But I didn’t want to present you with another boring Taho recipe. The aim of this post is to provide fellow homesick people like myself an easy recipe to help tide their cravings. I also wanted to put a little twist on the Arnibal so there will be strawberries again!

After experimenting with the recipe and serving it to picky, food connoisseurs (mainly my family), I proudly present:

Strawberry Taho a la KarinderyaChef

Part 1: Sago

I would first start with the tricky part which is cooking the Sago (Tapioca pearls). If you haven’t eaten Tapioca before, the texture needs to be kinda like al dente. It should be soft but has that bite to it. I didn’t know that getting that right texture would literally be a pain in the arse. My first attempt resulted in tough pearls. My second attempt ended up too mushy. After further research on the internet, I think I got the instructions more or less figured out. The secret to it is lots of water! As in an 8 cups water to 1 cup uncooked tapioca pearls ratio. Combine this with half an hour of boiling and another half hour of rest should result in properly cooked Tapioca pearls

(Warning: These instructions below are more or less guidelines. The time would be dependent on the type of pearls that you have. If the packet comes with instructions, I highly suggest using the instructions provided by manufacturer)

Sangkap | Ingredients

1 cup Tapioca Pearls

8 cups Water

Pagluluto | Cooking

1.Put 8 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil.

2. Put 1 cup of tapioca pearls and stir to avoid it sticking in the pot. Continue stirring until tapioca pearls float.

3. Cover and boil for 25-30 minutes, stir occasionally.

4. Remove from heat, leave the tapioca pearls in the hot water and keep covered for another 25-30 minutes.

5. Strain water and run the Tapioca pearls under cold water.

Part 2: Arnibal

Arnibal is basically sugar syrup with a dash of vanilla in it. The recipe below is simple to make and mainly involves boiling and simmering to produce a nice syrup for the Taho. Be careful when making sugar syrup as water and sugar boiled together can cause serious burns if touched or if it splashes on to your skin. You can cut the recipe in half  if you don’t want to make lots of syrup.

Sangkap | Ingredients

4 cups of Strawberries (2 punnets)

2 cups white sugar

1 cup water

Pagluluto | Cooking

1. Hull the Strawberries and cut into quarters

2. Combine the Strawberries, white sugar and water in a pot and bring to the boil.

3. Bring down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until syrupy in consistency and strawberries are soft and can be mashed.

Part 3: Strawberry Taho

And now for the fun part. It’s just a matter of combining the three ingredients. I suggest putting 2 Tofu cubes in a glass and mixing in the end after all ingredients have been placed on top.

Pagluluto | Cooking

1. Microwave Tofu for 1 minutes

2. Pour Strawberry syrup

3. Top with sago

4. Mix, serve, enjoy!

And there you have it! My own take on a Filipino favourite. While not really the real deal, I think it should more or less give you that taste and sensation you’re looking for wherever you are in the world.

-KarinderyaChef

Print

Strawberry Taho a la KarinderyaChef

Almost as good as having Strawberry Taho in Baguio

Course Breakfast, Drinks

Cuisine Filipino

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Servings 6 Glasses

Author KarinderyaChef

Sangkap | Ingredients

Taho

• 800 grams Tofu Silken, Extra smooth press

Strawberry Arnibal (syrup)

• 4 cups Strawberries (2 punnets)
• 2 cups Sugar white
• 1 cup water

Sago (Tapioca)

• 1 cup Tapioca Pearls
• 8 cups Water

Pagluluto | Cooking Directions

Strawberry Arnibal (syrup)

1. Hull the Strawberries and cut into quarters

2. Combine the Strawberries, white sugar, and water in a pot and bring to the boil.

3. Bring down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until syrupy in consistency and strawberries are soft and can be mashed.

Sago

1. Put 8 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil.

2. Put 1 cup of tapioca pearls and stir to avoid it sticking in the pot. Continue stirring until tapioca pearls float.

3. Cover and boil for 25-30 minutes, stir occasionally.

4. Remove from heat, leave the tapioca pearls in the hot water and keep covered for another 25-30 minutes.

5. Strain water and run the Tapioca pearls under cold water.

Taho

1. Microwave Tofu for 1 minutes

2. Pour Strawberry syrup

3. Top with sago

4. Mix, serve, enjoy!