Ginataang Bilo bilo Recipe – Have you ever heard of a sweet soup? In Filipino cuisine, there are certain desserts that have a similar cooking process and result to a stew, but delivers a delicious and sweet treat. One example of this is Champorado. If one were unfamiliar with it, it would look like a brown porridge. Rather, it is a type chocolate gruel. A similar dish to this is ginataang bilo bilo.
Ginataang Bilo bilo is a type of dessert stew made with small glutinous balls (sticky rice flour rounded up by adding water) in coconut milk and sugar. Then jackfruit, saba bananas, various tubers, and tapioca pearls are added. The general name of the dish is bilo bilo. The dish originated in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, a city located on the northern island of Luzon in the Philippines. There are different recipe variations depending on the region. Some recipes include young coconut meat, and others add pandan leaves for flavor. Bilo-bilo is traditionally eaten hot but can also be enjoyed cold after refrigeration.
Another common name for the dish is binignit. Binignit is a dessert soup that is famous in the Visayas. However, people in Metro Manila call it ginataang halo-halo or bilo-bilo. The cooking process for both is very similar. They are both cooked with coconut milk and cream, and they often include various tubers, saba, and/or sago. No matter the name, it is a flavorful and delicious dish to try. One simple Ginataang bilo bilo recipe you can try is this:
Ginataang Bilo Bilo
Ingredients
- 2 cups glutinous rice flour
- 1 cup water
- 2-3 cups water
- 2 400 ml can coconut milk or cream
- 1 ½ cup cooked tapioca pearls
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 big sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
- 4 piece plantain bananas peeled and cubed
- 1 cup jackfruit cut into strips
Instructions
- Start by combining glutinous rice flour and water in a bowl until it forms a dough. Then, roll the dough into small balls using your palms and set them aside.
- In a pot, bring a mixture of water, coconut milk, and sugar to a boil. Add sweet potato cubes and cook for about 3 minutes before adding the plantain banana cubes for another 3 minutes.
- Once the sweet potatoes and bananas are almost cooked, add the sticky rice balls and let them simmer until they float, which takes about 5 minutes.
- Finally, add the jackfruit slices and cooked tapioca pearls and let the mixture simmer for another 3-5 minutes, or until all the fruits are tender and cooked to perfection.
- Keep in mind that the dish will continue to thicken even after you remove it from the heat, so don’t worry if it’s a bit runny at first. Serve it hot or cold and enjoy the delightful blend of flavors and textures!
Tips and Tricks to a Ginataang Bilo Bilo Recipe
If you are unsure about some parts of the recipe, here are some things to know. When cooking sago or tapioca pearls, it’s important to note that the bigger ones could take more than an hour to cook. However, this recipe is for the smaller ones typically used for Ginataang Bilo-Bilo. This method involves cooking the pearls twice for a faster and more thorough cooking process.
Simply bring 4-5 cups of water to a boil and add the tapioca pearls, cooking for 10 minutes. Then strain the pearls and use the same water to boil them a second time. After washing the pearls thoroughly, add them back to the boiling water and cook until completely translucent with no white spots at the core.
Another dessert that features sago is taho, and one variation of it is Strawberry Taho. Aside from the sago, a good thing to keep in mind when making the dish is to not rush things. There are plenty of desserts in Filipino cuisine that takes time to bring out the best results. One similar dish to this sweet soup that features different ingredients and takes time is Graham de Leche. If you want to try other desserts with a mix of ingredients, try out Buko Pandan, Cream de Fruta, or Sago at Gulaman.
However, if you want dishes that are comparable to this sweet soup, check out ginataang mais and ginataang munggo. Ginataang mais is a sweet rice pudding dessert with corn, made from glutinous rice, coconut milk, and corn kernels. It’s also known as lugaw na mais or lelot mais in different regions. Meanwhile, ginataang munggo a Filipino dessert with roasted mung beans and glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and cream.
If you want to explore other simpler desserts, one option to test is Minatamis na Saging.
