What is a Tokwa? - How to make appetizer

Many people get confused with the “Tokwa” because its physical appearance is like a block cheese but actually they are made from a refined or ground bean which is processed until the soy milk is extracted.
Tokwa is made by coagulating soy milk and pressing the resulting curds into a rectangular casing and when it hardens it looks similar to white cheese such as parmesan.

What I like about the Tokwa is its subtle flavor that can be used in savory and sweet dishes.  This is also a great source of protein, and so I often add this food to my diet when I do weight lifting exercise.

In Philippines, the best dish that you could cook using Tokwa is the famous “Tokwa’t Baboy”, meaning the combination of “Tokwa and Pork”.  We will post here a recipe of that in a later time but at this moment let me just give you another typical Filipino appetizer using the Tokwa.

When you buy a tokwa in a local market, you could actually get them in a rectangular shape such as seen in the picture. For now, let’s start making the appetizer.

Here are the ingredients:
Sauce:
5 tablespoons of soy sauce
3 pcs of kalamansi or 2 teaspoon vinegar
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
3 onion leaves (sliced finely)
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 small chilis (siling labuyo) (optional)

½ to 1 cup of edible oil
1/8 Kg Tokwa

Here is the procedure:

1) What you need to do is to cut the Tokwa in cube shapes (maybe ½ inch thick and wide). Set aside.
2) In a pan, heat the oil, once hot, drain all the Tokwa cubes into the pan.
3) Stir occasionally until Tokwa turns golden brown.
4) Remove the tokwa from the pan and drain the oil.
5) In a bowl, prepare the sauce ingredients by combining them together.
6) Pour the fried tokwa into the sauce and enjoy!