Traditionally, Pork and Tofu serves as an appetizer for the Filipino. Another dish often accompanies it or is done as a pulutan (finger food) with alcoholic beverages.
It is one of the famous side dishes in Filipino cuisine. On this note, we will help you cook Pork and Tofu to brighten up your meals.
It is an easy appetizer that has evolved throughout the years. From an effortless-looking dish to a gourmet of flavorful taste and aroma, that will boost your appetite on your first bite.
But what do Pork and Tofu have that it became a mainstay in the Philippines' side dish scene throughout the years? We will know more about this delectable, savory appetite that Pinoys can't get enough of in the following segment.
What Is Tokwa't Baboy Original Filipino Recipes
What is Tokwa't Baboy? This hors d'oeuvre is a Filipino original, and it's derived from kilawing (literally "eaten raw'') tainga ng Baboy (pork ears), which originated in Cavite, a province in the Philippines. Sometimes, it is called kilawing Pork and Tofu.
Tokwa is the Lan-nang term for concentrated and solid beams, whereas a baboy is a Tagalog term for pork.

Pork and Tofu typically consist of pork belly, deep-fried Tofu pork belly. Its dressing is a mixture of pork broth, chopped white onions, scallions, red chili peppers, vinegar, and soy sauce. It is typically served as a beer match or pulutan (finger food).
As mentioned above, this is a popular dish/appetizer and is generally served with various kinds of congee like Arroz Caldo and goto (Pinoy porridge). If you are into sour dishes, you will enjoy this dish. Other meat types can replace pork ears if you prefer a meatier part or fattier part of any meat.
Ways To Cook Pork and Tofu
There are cooking methods for this impressive appetizer/dish that will make you produce a perfect and excellently delicious Pork and Tofu. We listed them down below, and if you want to try them, read through!
Sizzling Tokwa't Baboy: A Filipino Recipe

If you want to add fun to your plating, cook this savory dish, and serve it on a sizzling plate! In this method, you have to fry the Tofu and meat first in a pot of oil. Transfer it to a sizzling hot plate and cook it further there.
Pour the dressing while the meat and Tofu are heating in the sizzling plate. It will help with the absorption of the dressing into the meat and the Tofu. If you want it with another layer of flavor and creaminess, add a teaspoon of mayonnaise.
This method could make for a fun meal experience on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
Instant Pot Pork and Tofu Recipes

The Instant Pot is a wonderful piece of equipment. For people who don't have much time to spend in the kitchen, this will be a perfect solution as this would cook dishes instantly, well, for a few minutes down to a few hours. It all depends on what you are boiling inside it.
For Pork and Tofu, it all needs a few minutes for it to cook. It is sometimes by boiling the meat and Tofu in salt and pepper that it gets more delicious. By boiling it, it would not get in the way of the dressing's taste when infused, so this cooker will do a fantastic job doing just that.
Once everything is cooked, put everything on a plate and dress it with your dressing (or not) if you prefer it separated from the meat. And there you have it, your Instant Pot Pork and Tofu for your delicious lunch meal.
Recipes Variations
Crispy Pork and Tofu recipes
If you want that crunchiness texture to go along in this meal, then fry it! A platter of crispy Pork and Tofu is all you need to pair with a spicy-sweet sour mixture of vinegar, soy sauce with lots of onions, and garlic. The crunchiness will create that gustatory effect, satisfying your taste buds on a Saturday lunch.
For this version, pick the belly part of the pork. Rub salt, pepper in it, and cut it into bite-size. Fry it in hot oil, followed by Tofu. Garnish it with chopped onion chives and serve hot with your favorite sour dressing.
Vegan Pork and Tofu recipes
For our vegan friends, you may also enjoy this beautiful appetizer. Naturally, by omitting the meat and replacing it with firm tofu and homemade seitan. Either boiled or fried, these meat substitutes can give you that taste and pleasing effect of a slice of real meat.
With the combination of seitan and Tofu, you will get all vitamins and minerals without having too many carbs and fats. Pour in your dressing and enjoy your every bite of Vegan Pork and Tofu.
Low carb Pork and Tofu recipes
If you are on a low carb diet, it is still possible to enjoy this delectable side/dish. Using Tofu and canned tuna flakes in oil, you will make an excellent Low carb Pork and Tofu. Although there are issues with using Tofu in a low carb diet, it still could make a perfect choice, especially when you are in the maintenance phase.
Add some oyster sauce to give it another layer of umami flavor. Relish your dish with fresh, cold lemon juice.
Pork and Tofu with Togue recipe
With this version of this yummy dish, we will add bean sprouts and some medley of aromatics and veggies. To make this, we need scallions, carrots cut into thin strips, bell peppers seeded, and bean sprouts.
Fry tofu and cut into thick strips, saute with the meat along with the aroma. Throw in the veggies and saute until cooked through. Add some dash of oyster sauce, and your Pork and Tofu with Togue will be going to please people around the table with this tweak you made.
Pork and Tofu Chinese Style recipe
This lovely variant includes putting tomato paste into your already tasty appetizer. For this variant to be a whole new dish, here's what we need: pork loin cut into strips and deep-fried, and tomato sauce.
We may also add some aromatics like screwpine (pandan) and kinchay or otherwise known as Chinese celery. Simmer the meat with tomato sauce, add the aromatics and other veggies (optional), and add the fried Tofu.
This variant will make an excellent lunch dish paired with hot plain rice. Relish your Chinese Style Pork and Tofu with soup or cold dessert.
Pork and Tofu with Tausi recipe
If you dig the Chinese Style of cooking so much, this other variant will give you a delightful vibe in the preparation part. Tausi or douchi in Chinese is a fermented and salted black soybean.
We need aromatics such as onion and garlic, firm Tofu, canned tausi, pork belly, vinegar, and tomatoes in this variant.
Bring to boil the pork belly with water and vinegar to bring out tenderness and another tang in each bite.
With the sweetness of crushed tomatoes and tausi, this adaptation will be a showstopper at the lunch table.
Troubleshooting
With all the different variants of this recipe, mistakes are unavoidable. To remedy some mishaps, we listed down ways to prevent your dish from going down the drain.
- Too salty – when this occurs in your dish, it's either you put some water in the mix (variants with dressing/soup in it), or you can take out some portion and add some water and season it again as you go.
- Too sour - you concocted your sour dressing, but it became too acidic, more than your taste buds can tolerate. What you can do is balance it with some salt and sugar. Add a little first and taste it as you go.
- Dry meat/tofu - the perfect way to remedy this is to cook it to become saucy like the Chinese Style or with the tausi modification mentioned above in the variants.
Trivia
If you like to know the nutrients you can get from eating this excellent dish. Please read down below.
- Tofu: Tofu provides a few riboflavin, thiamin, vitamin B6, choline, niacin, selenium, and manganese. These vitamins boost energy and play an essential role in growth and development. The significant component of Tofu is soy. Soy is a complete source of dietary protein, which means that it provides all the essentials.
Amino acids are needed in the diet.
The magnesium and calcium in soy may help strengthen bones, lessen PMS symptoms, regulate blood sugar, and prevent migraine headaches.
- Onion - unbeknownst to many, onions come in a wide variety of colors, shapes, and flavors. However, the most common types are white onions, red, and yellow. The characteristics of these vegetables can range from juicy and sweet to spicy, pungent, and sharp.
It depends on the place and season where it is grown. Onion contains compounds that fight inflammation, reduce cholesterol, and antioxidants--all of these may protect the heart from any diseases. The anti-inflammatory effect may also help lower blood pressure and protect it against blood clots.
- Green Chillies - green chilies come with a lot of surprising nutrients. First on the list is that it has zero calories. It will speed up the metabolism up to 50% for three hours after eating after consuming it.
It protects the body against cancer. Green chilies are so loaded with antioxidants that protect the body against free radicals by serving as natural scavengers. Additionally, it keeps prostate problems at bay.
- Surprisingly enough, the capsaicin in green chilies, although hot to the taste, has been linked to lower body temperature by exciting the cooling center of the hypothalamus in the brain. It may be the reason why in hot places like India, it's still consumed.
- Calamansi - calamansi is inherent in tropical countries like the Philippines. It's packed with vitamin C, among other beneficial nutrients that the body needs. It has been used as an immune booster for ages and is known to help detoxify the body.
It has also been proven effective as an agent for losing weight. Calamansi is known to boost the metabolism and eliminate the toxins in our body that contribute to fat storage.
Tips
We listed some helpful tips that you can do to improve this relatively easy dish in so many ways.
- Pork stock: Don't throw the water where you boiled your pork. Please put it in your sauce to give it the taste a depth in flavor. Savory and flavorful is what you want to go after.
- Pork meat: Avoid overcooking the pork. The texture should be tender and soft to hold its form.
- Add sugar if you like a sweet version of the sour dressing, or add chilies if you fancy a spicy dressing.
- Mayonnaise - if you want some creaminess in your dish, you may add mayonnaise. Mayonnaise will go along well with the sweet and sour sauce you made.
Best Served With
This savory appetizer/ dish can be eaten alone or, better yet, with a pair of other dishes, drinks, desserts, or appetizers. So go ahead, pair it with the following food, and have those layers of goodness all in one meal.
- Congee - goto or any simple lugaw (rice porridge) will be the ultimate pair of this tangy dish. Every spoonful of this dish will be a boost in your appetite when paired with a hot-steaming porridge. In the Philippines, we have this set of meals called LTB, which stands for lugaw (Pinoy rice porridge), tokwa (Tofu), at baboy (pork.
- Beer: Most Filipino is known as pulutan (finger food for the alcoholic drinks/session). This course is the favorite choice for a beer match. They say it's a match made in heaven.
- Fried Rice - fried rice can be very suitable for this dish. Both have that savory taste and almost with the same flavor. The combination will be significantly complementing with each other.
- Hot and Sour soup is a combination of sour and spicy tang with a thick consistency. This soup's souring agent is the black vinegar, which has that woody, smoky, and aged punch usually used in Chinese cuisine.
These two will make an excellent pair, which will give you a gastronomical experience, and will trigger your happiness.
Conclusion
Pork and Tofu will continue as a novelty for most Filipino people, and it will remain as it is for a very long time. We hope we have encouraged you to make a perfect Pork and Tofu through this article. Let us hear from you by commenting down below. Please don't forget to rate this recipe.
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Recipe
Superb Tokwa't Baboy Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb Pork cubed
- 3 pcs Tofu cut into 8 pieces per cube
- ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
- ½ teaspoon Salt to taste
- 1 pc Onion diced
- 1 pc Long green chili cut into circles
- 2 pcs Red chilies cut into circles
- ¼ cup Vinegar
- ½ cup Sugar
- 2 pcs Calamansi extracted
- 1 cup Cooking Oil
- 3 cups Water
Instructions
- In a casserole, combine water, pork and salt. Let it boil and skim the scum. Cook for 25 minutes then set aside.
- Heat oil in a pan. Fry the tofu until golden brown then set aside and let it cool.
- On the same pan, fry the pork and cover then lower the heat. Cook until light golden brown then let it cool.
- Cut the fried tofu and pork into thin slices or cubes.
- Get a medium bowl and combine the fried pork, tofu, onions, red and green pepper, black pepper, salt, sugar, and vinegar. Mix it well.
- Then pour-in the calamansi extract. Mix again.
- Serve and enjoy!