Tsokolate

Ingredients

Cacao

• 6tablea, the Filipino cacao tablets, about 120 g

Liquid

• 500 mlwater
• 250 mlwhole milk or evaporated milk

To sweeten

• sugar or muscovado, to taste
• a pinch of salt

Optional

• 1 tbsppeanut butter, which some households add
• a strip of orange peel
• a pinch of cinnamon

Equipment

• a chocolatera or small pot
• a batirol or molinillo, the wooden whisk

To serve

• hot, with puto bumbong or bibingka, at Christmas

Directions

1. Bring the water to a simmer and drop in the tablea. Melt the tablea in water first, not in milk.
2. Break the tablets up as they soften and stir until they dissolve. Simmer it for 5 minutes, stirring, until it is smooth and glossy.
3. Hold the batirol upright in the pot and spin it between your palms. Roll the handle rapidly back and forth between flat palms, keeping the head submerged.
4. Whisk it hard for a minute or two until it is thick and frothy. Add the milk after the cacao is fully dissolved, and warm it through without boiling.
5. Add a pinch of salt, which sharpens the chocolate considerably.
6. Whisk it a second time immediately before serving, since the foam collapses and the cacao settles within a minute. For tsokolate eh, use more tablea and less liquid, so it is thick enough to coat a spoon heavily.
7. Pour it into cups and serve it very hot.

Technique

• Tablea is pure ground cacao with nothing added.
• The eh and ah joke comes from Rizal and is still in common use.
• It is drunk after the dawn masses before Christmas.

Substitutions

• Good quality unsweetened cacao paste in place of tablea.
• A stick blender or a small whisk in place of a batirol.

Variations

• Made thick, as tsokolate eh.
• With peanut butter stirred in.
• Made with water alone, which is the older way.

History

Thick cacao drink whisked from tablea with a wooden batirol; cacao reached the islands through the Manila galleon trade from Mexico.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tsokolate?

Tsokolate is a drink from Philippines: thick hot chocolate whisked from cacao tablea. Thick cacao drink whisked from tablea with a wooden batirol; cacao reached the islands through the Manila galleon trade from Mexico.

How long does Tsokolate take to make?

Tsokolate takes 5 min of preparation and 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 cups. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Tsokolate?

Yes, within limits. Good quality unsweetened cacao paste in place of tablea. A stick blender or a small whisk in place of a batirol.