As we were grocery shopping last Sunday, mom found a decent sized piece of pork jowl. We already had tofu in the cart, alam na. So I decided to make the tokwa't baboy for dinner today.
Ingredients:
2 blocks Tofu
Oil for frying
Pork jowls (face/snout/cheek) and/or pig ears
For the boiling/tenderizing liquid:
2 pieces Bay leaf
2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
5 cloves garlic
enough water to cover the pork in the pan
For the dressing/sauce: (everything is to taste, this is my basic guideline/ratio you can adjust it anyway you want to)
5 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp water
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 pc minced onion
1/2 clove minced garlic
1 1-peso sized slice of ginger
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp fish sauce
pepper to taste
1 pc siling labuyo (optional)
Directions:
Wash the pork jowls and/or ears over water. Put them in a pan, together with the bay leaves, salt, water, garlic and peppercorns. Boil for about 15 mins and skim the scum off, continue boiling covered on low heat for about 45 mins to an hour to ensure tenderness. Remove from liquid, and let it cool. Chop into bite sized pieces. :)
The tofu, you can cube the blocks up and fry them, (more crispy sides) or you can fry the blocks whole, and then cube them afterwards, (like they do in lugawans). Place on a paper towel after frying to absorb extra oil. Set aside.
For the sauce, mix 'em all up. Taste, then adjust to your liking. :)
To eat: take some tofu cubes, some pork and douse with the super special simple sauce. Enjoy.
