Tsokolate: Filipino-style Hot Chocolate
Tsokolate (pronounced “cho-koh-lah-tey”) is a traditional Filipino-style hot chocolate. A tablea is the Filipino chocolate disk, which is dark, powdery, and melted down to create the thick beverage once popular but now often replaced by the instant variety.
The Search for La Resureccion Tablea
I had spent an hour in Binondo, hunting for La Resureccion Tablea, the famed chocolate factory. The store itself looked like a rundown but clean electronics shop with only a few display cases half filled with the two varieties of tableas: unsweetened and sweetened. With a name that felt like it belonged on a Church and a logo that was borderline Masonic, the chocolate must’ve been that good. The old-school wrappers the store used made the tube of disks look like an oversized Haw Flakes package or a weird fire cracker.
Ingredients and Preparation
To make 3 1/2 cups, I split open the sweetened pack and used the following components:
| Ingredient | Quantity/Detail |
|---|---|
| Tablea Disks (Sweetened) | 6 disks |
| Water | Amount needed for boiling |
| Skim Milk | 1/2 c. |
| Lily’s Peanut Butter | 1 tablespoon |
The preparation process involves specific steps to achieve the right consistency:
- Melted 6 disks in water I had been boiling previously.
- After about 8 minutes and the disks had dissolved with some stirring, I reduced the heat and added about 1/2 c. of skim milk. One can use any milk or even drizzle some evaporated milk at the end.
- I added a tablespoon of Lily’s Peanut Butter. Kept stirring a bit to dissolve the peanut butter too.
- I then transferred the whole pot into a high-walled pitcher.
The Traditional Batidor Technique
Now came the fun part using an interesting looking tool. I lowered a wooden batidor (or whisk/beater) into the mixture and whisked it between both hands as if I was buildling a fire. One can also use a mixer or immersion blender but ask yourself: “Did my lola have one in her days?”. The tsokolate was supposed to froth at this point, though success may depend on whether you overboiled the mix or reduced the mixture enough.
Tasting Notes
The result was a drink that was slightly grainy, though not unpleasantly so, with just the right hint of nuttiness from the Lily’s. Some might find it a little too sweet, while others may comment on how rich the drink was. After all, nostalgia is just as good a flavor enhancer as sugar no? For future experiments, I hear you can also spike the thing with some rum and an egg for a proper old-school Filipino cocktail.
