The One Food I Wouldn’t Eat

By now, you may have already figured out how much I love food and cooking and eating. However, despite my irresistible attraction towards food, there is one thing that I wouldn’t normally eat—tofu.

Yes, that’s right. You could kill me a thousand times, but I will not eat tofu. Oh, there are some exceptional tofu dishes that I would eat, but not on a day-to-day basis. And only if the dish doesn’t taste like tofu.

Why the revulsion, you might ask. Well, it’s mainly because I extremely dislike the after taste. Tofu has to be masked by a stronger flavor for it to get past my esophagus. Like Tofu Steak, for instance. Or Tokwa’t Baboy with a really great tasting sauce (so far, only the one being served at the Philippine Heart Center canteen has passed the test).

But reality has a way of humoring me. Why? Because when I was asked to develop a couple of recipes for an Inter-Barangay cooking contest, one of my entries got first prize. The dish? Stuffed Tokwa with Sweet Chili Sauce.

Stuffed Tokwa with Chili Sauce

• 6 pieces small tokwa
• Half a kilo of dalagang bukid
• A pinch of salt
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• Kinchay, finely chopped
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• a dash of pepper
• 1 cup cooking oil

First, hollow out the tokwa to make “shells”; be sure to leave about ¼ of an inch around the sides and bottom of the tokwa. Take care not to tear the shell. Set aside.

Next, boil the dalagang bukid in water seasoned with a pinch of salt. Debone fish and flake the meat. Set aside.

Combine fish, carrots and kinchay. Mash the tokwa you scooped out earlier and mix it in. Bind with egg and cornstarch. Spoon the mixture in each tokwa shell.

Heat oil in heavy frying pan. Deep-fry the stuffed tokwa shells in hot oil until slightly brown and crisp. Invert the stuffed tokwa carefully to cook the top portion. Drain on paper towels. Serve with sweet-chili sauce.

PS: You can also use crabmeat in place of dalagang bukid.