Recipe: Ginataang Bilo-bilo (aka Alpahor in Chavacano / pidgin Spanish)

Ginataan is one of my all time favourite comfort foods, and is a dessert/snack that can be eaten at any time during the day. I have very fond memories of my mom and aunt cooking these on cold and rainy days - we would stay indoors all day and eat; the adults would chat while the kids watched movies and played board games. 

There are as many different variations of this recipe as there are number of regions in the Philippines. Remember, we have 7,107 islands at high tide and 7,147 at low tide (or so I was told). This recipe is the Batangueño version as it derives from my mom's hometown of Batangas.

The word ginataan (or guinataan) literally means "cooked in coconut milk. It is again very similar to the popularised taiwanese desserts (see here), and consists of sweetened/caramelised fruits and root vegetables accompanied by chewy glutinous rice balls and simmered in coconut milk. Our family usually has this warm, but I do know people who prefer this served cold and it's equally tasty. But I guess it just never lasts that long in our house as it is usually consumed the same day it is made. So here it is, ginataang bilo bilo.... 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup of glutinous rice flour
• Food colouring/die (traditionally purple, but i used three colours)
• 1 litre of water
• 2/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 small sweet potato, cut into cubes
• 1 small taro, cut into cubes
• 1 cup of jackfruit, cut into strips
• 2 small plantains (or lady finger bananas), cut into pieces

Instructions:

1. Add the water and sugar to a small pot and boil the taro and sweet potato cubes until cooked but firm. This should take no more than 10 minutes. 

2. While boiling the root vegetables, prepare the dough for the bilo bilo (chewy rice balls). In a mixing bowl place the glutinous rice flour, and slowly add water, one tablespoon at a time until you get a soft dough. Knead lightly for 30 seconds but do not overwork the dough. Add food colouring sparingly as it gets darker when cooked. Set aside.

3. Add the jackfruit and the plantains to the pot, and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. Turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and add 1/4 of the coconut milk.

4. Grab small pieces of the purple dough and roll into small balls approximately the size of your thumbnail. After rolling each, drop it straight into the pot ensuring they are all fully submerged. Once cooked, all the balls will float to the top.

5. Turn off the heat and stir through the remainder of the coconut milk. Let the mixture cool down a little.

Serve warm making sure you get a little bit of each ingredient in each bowl to get the full flavour and texture. Bon appetit! 

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