A different take on a staple Filipino street food. Healthy Taho at Sago made with dates and chia seeds now make it a very plant forward nutritious meal.

The original Taho at Sago

Growing up in the Philippines as a child in the early morning hours I will hear a gentleman walking down the street calling out "taahhoo" over and over until someone stops him to buy this Filipino delicacy from him for breakfast.

The dish is made with soy cooked down so smooth that it's almost jelly like and served with sago pearls (really big tapioca balls) and a brown sugar syrup called arnibal.

You are probably wondering how are they selling it, is it in carts? No unfortunately not, because the ingredients are so minimal and very cheap to procure the families that do make it are quite poor. So with Filipinos being the Macgyver's that they are, they created a way to carry all these freshly made ingredients on foot with what they could afford or find easily for free. How you ask? Well they take a stick and on one end is a bucket with the silky soy curd and on the other end is another bucket with the sago pearls and arnibal sauce. They place the stick on their shoulders and hold on to with with their hands.

They walk around the streets until they sell out. It's a freaking hard job and most likely after this they have another hustle and another one after that.

Why a Healthy Taho at Sago?

Diabetes is a problem within the Filipino community and my family. So it's been a mission of mine to still find ways to give my dad the food he grew up with, slightly modified so that his blood sugar doesn't go crazy.

I did that by replacing the arnibal with a date puree and date syrup. You can't even tell the difference and it's so much more nutritious. Instead of using sago pearls, I replaced that will chia seeds bloomed in coconut water.

Bowl of chia, bowl of tofu, date mixture and date syrup on a table.

The coconut water adds additional sweetness and fills the chia seeds with sweet water and blooms clear so that it resembles small tiny pearls. With the soy, I found some silky smooth tofu to use instead of making it from scratch.

Glasses of chia and date mixture on a plate.

Now this humble street food is now a plant food power house that is high in plant based protein and made with natural sugars.

How to Layer it

I start with the chia seeds on the bottom and pour the date puree over and add a splash of date syrup. Then top off with the silky tofu and dizzle more date syrup on top. Now that was super easy and it doesn't require any cooking at all. Just a little bit of waiting for the chia seeds to bloom.

Pouring date syrup in a glass of layered Healthy Taho and sago.

I hope some of you are game enough to try out this remix. Even if you are not a Filipino. It's a great snack / light dessert, but if you are let me know if it does bring back memories.

For other healthy remixed Filipino recipes you can also try

Healthy Leche Flan Made with Only 4 Ingredients

Fresh Lumpia with Cashew Date Sauce

Yuba Noodle Pancit with Adobo Kale Chips.