Binignit is the quintessential homemade dessert of the Visayas, and in Cebu it is tied to Good Friday, when families abstain from meat and cook this thick compote of gabi (taro), sweet potato, saba banana, langka and tapioca in coconut milk. Every household has its own proportions, and bowls are shared with neighbors — a neighborly gesture that accompanies Filipino Holy Week. It is eaten warm or cold as a filling merienda, more stew than soup.
Ingredients
300 g gabi (taro), cubed
300 g camote (sweet potato), cubed
4 saba (cooking bananas), sliced
150 g ripe langka (jackfruit), in strips
100 g small tapioca pearls
400 ml thick coconut milk
150 g sugar or muscovado
1 pinch of salt
350–450 kcal per typical serving.
per 250 ml bowl; tubers, banana and coconut milk concentrate the carbs, and sugar pushes it up (estimated from the typical recipe)
