Ginataang Bilo Bilo is a delicious tropical treat in the Philippines made up of rice balls, various slices of different fruits, and tapioca pearls all soaked in a bowl od coconut milk. It’s a delicious concoction that’s best enjoyed as an afternoon snack or dessert and can be served warm or chilled.
Ginataang bilo bilo was one of the favorites snacks to serve during merienda in my household, especially for kids. I remember that my lola loved to experiment with different fruits and ingredients to dump into our bowls of sweet gooey goodness so it was always an exciting thing to see what combination she has come up with.
You can include various ingredients when making gintaang bilo bilo but the most common and traditional Filipino recipe for this snack includes ingredients like riceballs, coconut milk, langka (or jackfruit), and tapioca. You can opt not to include the langka and replace it with your preferred fruits but the coconut milk, rice balls, and tapioca can never be excluded because we wouldn’t be able to identify it as a ginataang bilo bilo dish.
As I look online, some websites categorize this dish as a kakanin but I’m not entirely sure about that because it’s commonly served indoors and you’ll hardly find any ginataang bilo-bilo vendors out at the streets during the holidays or at bus stops which I think plays a portion on what constitutes a kakanin these days, although it does use rice balls as the main ingredient.
I also found that there’s a similar Chinese dish called tangyuan which uses similar ingredients like glutinous rice rolled up in balls served in a bowl of water. The Chinese typically serve these colorful snacks during the Chinese New Year.
Maybe the Filipino ginataang bilo bilo dish was influenced by the Chinese tangyuan dish and made our own version of it. Other websites also call it the warm version of halo-halo. Who knows. But I’m pretty sure that ginataang bilo bilo is a staple Filipino snack and like many staple Filipino dishes in the Philippines, each household has its own version of this dish.
And again, it’s such a fun Filipino dish to experiment with using different fruits. The most typical one is langka or jackfruit but I’ve seen so many different versions in the internet including one with ube that turned the coconut milk a beautiful purple color. Many ginataang bilo-bilo also commonly use saba or ripe plantains. Whatever you can get your hands on, you can incorporate it in the recipe.
Plus it’s up to the household if they want to serve the snack cold or warm. We typically serve ginataang bilo-bilo warm especially during a rainy day or a particularly cold night but I can see the huge appeal of serving it chilled, especially during hot afternoons.
For my ginataang bilo bilo recipe, I like to keep it simple. I’m going to use all the classic ingredients plus some ripe plantains or saba and sweet potatoes sliced into small cubes. I’ll list all the ingredients and their measurements below. All of them are easily available in local markets all over the Philippines.
Now for the cooking process. I was surprised on my first time cooking ginataang bilo bilo is divided into three parts. I guess I was just so used to immediately being served a bowl of this sweet gooey goodness during my childhood that I had the impression that cooking it only takes a minute or two.
But gintaang bilo bilo is prepared by first cooking the rice balls, then the tapioca pearls, and finally the ginataan which basically mixed all the finished ingredients altogether. Of course, the fruits and other ingredients are prepped and sliced first before adding it into the bowl.
Onces you’ve got all everything prepared and ready, it’s only a matter of combining it all together and creating the beautifully creamy and delicious ginataang bilo bilo. Serve it warm or chilled depending on the time of day and weather and you’re guaranteed for a delicious snack or dessert. Have fun scooping up all the different ingredients in the bowl.
Here’s my ginataang bilo bilo recipe which you can easily follow. Enjoy!
Ginataang Bilo Bilo – Sticky Rice Balls in Coconut Milk Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ kilo Glutinous Rice Flour
- 1 big coconut milk,
- 2 cups of Sugar
- 2 pcs. of Sweet Potatoes (kamote) sliced
- 5 – 7 pcs. of Banana, (Saging na Saba)sliced
- 200 grams of Water Yam(Ube) sliced
- 100 grams of Jackfruit
- 1 cup cooked sago
- 1 Liter of Water
Instructions
- Prepare all ingredients and slice them all.
- In the mixing bowl, mix the 2 and ½ cups of glutinous rice and vanilla.
- Add the 1 and ½ cup of water gradually and mix until it forms into soft dough.
- Get some dough and form it into small balls.
- Remain the ½ cup of rice flour dough and set aside.
- In a cooking pot, put the 1 liters of water and add the sliced water yam then cover it and wait to boil.
- Then add sliced sweet potatoes and add the 2 cups of sugar and cover it and cook for 3 – 5 minutes until slightly soft.
- Add the sliced banana and jackfruit then stir and cover it to continue boiling.
- Add the rice flour balls and mix it well then cover.
- The remaining rice flour dough is dissolved into ½ cup of water and set aside.
- Then add the coconut milk and sago then mix it well and cover it.
- Then lastly add the dissolved glutinous rice when all ingredients are already cooked.
- Allow to simmer until it thickens.
- Serve hot and Enjoy the Bilo – Bilo Recipe.
Youtube Video
FAQs
“Bilo-bilo” describes the round shapes of the glutinous rice dumplings while the “Halo-halo” describes the colourful ingredients liken to the cold “Halo-Halo”, a Filipino shaved ice dessert. “Pinindot-pindot”, describes the rolling and squishing of the dumplings while forming them.
What is Ginataang Bilo Bilo made of? ›
Enjoy the warmth and comfort of a bowl of Filipino Ginataang Bilo-Bilo at home! It's made with langka, tender sweet potatoes, tapioca pearls, saba bananas, and the best sticky rice balls simmered in a sweet coconut milk soup. Serve as a delicious dessert or afternoon snack.
What is the English of Bilo Bilo? ›
Bilo bilo (chewy rice balls)
Bilo bilo are the handmade rice balls traditionally made of water and glutinous rice flour. It's a very similar process to making handmade tapioca pearls.
What is Ginataan in English? ›
Ginataan (pronounced: GHEE-nah-ta-AN), alternatively spelled guinataan, is a Filipino term which refers to food cooked with gatâ (coconut milk). Literally translated, ginataan means "done with coconut milk".
Why do the Filipinos eat Halo-Halo? ›
The beloved summer treat Halo-halo is like an unofficial symbol of summer in the Philippines. The longing for something cold and refreshing under the sweltering heat, the sweet and surprising flavor bombs that remind us of happy times is what this colorful concoction brings to the table.
Is Halo-Halo Filipino or Hawaiian? ›
Halo-halo, also spelled haluhalo, Tagalog for "mixed", is a popular cold dessert in the Philippines made up of crushed ice, evaporated milk or coconut milk, and various ingredients including side dishes such as ube jam (ube halaya), sweetened kidney beans or garbanzo beans, coconut strips, sago, gulaman (agar), pinipig ...
Where did ginataang bilo-bilo originated in the Philippines? ›
Bilo-bilo's origin is in Luzon, which is the northern Philippines Island. There are different recipe versions depending on what region in the Philippines it is from. Some recipes call for young coconut meat and some call for adding pandan leaves.
What do you call a Filipino dessert made of sticky rice seasoned with coconut and salt? ›
Biko is a rich, chewy Filipino rice cake made with sticky rice, coconut milk, and dark sugar.
Is mochiko glutinous rice flour? ›
Mochiko (もち粉), mochiko sweet rice flour, or mochi flour, is a glutinous rice flour (sweet rice flour) made of glutinous short-grain Japanese rice. Known for its sticky and chewy texture, the Japanese use it to make Japanese pastries and sweets.
Why is it called bilo-bilo? ›
Bilo-bilo comes from the root word “bilog” (a Tagalog word which translates to 'round'). The word 'ginataan' comes from the word 'gata' which is coconut milk.
While binignit is popular in Visayas, people in Metro Manila know it better as ginataang halo-halo or bilo-bilo. The cooking method for both are largely the same; both are cooked in coconut milk and cream, and they both usually contain all or a combination of different tubers, saba, and/or sago.
What is binignit in ilocano? ›
Binignit is also called giná-tan in Bikolano, tabirák in Mindanao Cebuano, alpahor in Chavacano, wit-wit in Hiligaynon, ginettaán, tambo-tambong, and paradusdos in Ilokano, ginat-an (or ginat-ang lugaw) in Waray and Hiligaynon/Ilonggo, kamlo in western Iloilo, scramble in Tuguegarao City, linugaw in Bacolod, and ...
Can dogs drink coconut milk? ›
Pet owners can safely incorporate small amounts of organic, unsweetened coconut milk into a dog's diet. However, coconut products containing additives like sugar, preservatives, and additional fats—whether coconut milk, coconut oil, or coconut water—are not safe for dogs to consume.
What is coconut cream in Filipino? ›
The English word "coconut cream" can be translated as the following word in Tagalog: 1.) kákang-gatâ - [noun] coconut cream; coconut milk more...
What does gata mean in coconut milk? ›
Coconut milk (gata)
Gata refers to milk from coconut meat. Pressing the grated meat of a mature coconut with water creates milk or cream. Telling one apart from the other is fairly simple. Any extraction that produces a thin consistency (often during the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. press) is just gata.
What is the difference between Halo Halo and Iskrambol? ›
Halo-Halo's ingredients are layered from the bottom of the glass then filled with shaved ice, a pouring of evaporated milk, then topped with a scoop of usually ube ice cream; while Iskrambol is shaved ice, color and flavor mixed together to form a smooth shaved ice mixture scooped into a glass and then topped with its ...
What dessert is similar to Halo Halo? ›
Guinomis is almost a cross between a halo-halo and sago't gulaman. It hails from the Kapampangan people and is made of crushed ice, jelly, sago, sugar, evaporated milk, water and pinipig. To make it more substantial, you can add melon strips and replace the evaporated milk with coconut milk.
What is the Korean dessert like Halo Halo? ›
Bingsu (Korean: 빙수; Hanja: 氷水), sometimes written as bingsoo, is a milk-based Korean shaved ice dessert with sweet toppings that may include chopped fruit, condensed milk, fruit syrup, and red beans. The most common variety is pat-bingsu (Korean: 팥빙수), the red bean shaved ice.
What's the difference between Bingsu and Halo Halo? ›
For halo-halo, the sweetness is not based on the milk but the ingredients itself while for bingsu, the sweetness depends on the syrup and the amount of condensed milk one puts in it. As for the toppings and ingredients, in halo-halo, it is topped with different varieties not limited to fruits.
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