Taho is made of silken tofu sweetened with arnibal (dark brown sugar syrup) and tapioca pearls (sago). I have fond memories as a child buying Taho from peddlers who carry two big aluminum buckets suspended from a pole. They would be walking on the streets of residential neighborhoods calling out “Tahooo” early in the morning. Taho is often be served in plastic disposable cups but we like to give our own cup or bowl to be filled up. I should also mention that this are always served hot. Nowadays, there are even Taho peddlers who roam the business districts of Makati and Ortigas early morning who cater to office workers.

Filipinos do not have a monopoly on Taho, it’s origins can be traced back to ancient China during the Western Han Dynasty. Taho is called Douhua or Doufufa in Cantonese. This is also popular in other Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

When we moved to the East coast in the late 90s, we can only get Taho from Chinese restaurants that serve dimsum or if we visit Chinatown in New York City. But not again, since I discovered a type of tofu which is the Sukui Tofu. Sukui in Japanese means scoop up or to scoop, this tofu is so silky smooth that you will need a spoon for eating it.

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This recipe just requires putting all the ingredients together. Open a package of chilled sukui tofu. Gently scoop the tofu using a shallow spoon and place in a small glass or cup. Pour desired amount of arnibal (brown sugar syrup) with sago or you can alternately layer the tofu and brown sugar syrup in your glass. If you want to serve this hot, you can transfer the sukui tofu in a glass or ceramic container and steam for a few minutes.

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