Ginataang bilo-bilo
Bilo-bilo is made of glutenous rice balls. Ginataang bilo-bilo is a Filipino dessert made in sweet coconut milk, with glutenous rice balls, fresh jack fruit, banana, tapioca pearls, sweet potato and sometimes purple yam.
Ingredients:
Glutenous rice powder
Water
Ripe jackfruit - I used those in tin made from Thailand I think, it's the only available version of the fruit in the UK, sliced into small pieces
2 cans of coconut milk
1/4 cup of white sugar
2 fresh pandan leaves (can do with the frozen ones available in most Asain stores)
1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into small pieces - see pictures below for approx. size
1 candy apple banana (can do without), peeled and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup of cooked tapioca pearls (can do without - for the pictures I have below, I didn't put this because I have run out of it)
Purple yam root crop (can do without), peeled and cut into small pieces**
**for this recipe, I have added the purple yam dessert which I cooked a week ago. I stored that in the freezer and so I was able to cut them into small pieces without any difficulty**
Procedures
We need to split the procedure to two, first we need to prepare the glutenous rice balls and then second is the cooking which involves stirring, boiling and mixing
Procedure 1 - In a bowl, put about 1 cup of glutenous rice. Add 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly until the mixture becomes soft and sticky as if a bread dough. If the mixture is still not as sticky as it should, add a lil bit of water until it holds up when being balled. Scoop 1/2 teaspoon of the mixture and roll into a ball using your bare hands (needless to say, make sure your hands are clean please!). Put the balls into a serving tray covered with baking paper.
Procedure 2 - Cooking
a. Pour 2 cans of coconut milk into a cooking pot with the pandan leaves and bring to a boil
b. Add white sugar and gradually stirr until the it starts to boil again
c. Add the glutenous rice balls (bilo-bilo) while continuously stirring to make sure the balls will not stick together. Wait til it gets cooked which is when the rice balls starts to float
d. Add the sweet potato and banana, cover for five minutes and stirr again to mix the ripe jackfruit
e. Continue stirring for another five minutes, add the cooked tapioca pearls
f. If you want the mixture to be a bit sticky (which it should), add 1/2 teaspoon of glutenous rice flour in a cup and add 1/4 cup of water. Stirr and put to the cooking pot where your ginataang bilo-bilo is being cooked. Wait til it boils again and then it's done!
g. Transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy!
