Bibique or Bebinca, a traditional Goan speciality!

Christmas in a Goan household would be incomplete without this melt in the mouth delicacy.  Bibique or Bebinca is a baked layered dessert made using plenty of egg yolks, coconut milk, sugar, ghee and a little plain flour and flavored with nutmeg.

Don’t be intimidated by the lengthy baking process.  It is fairly simple but requires you to be around the oven throughout the baking process. Mind you, the baking process can be discontinued whenever you like, in case you have to for some reason like if you are too tired, sleepy or have to attend to something else.  In such a situation, just stick the batter and the half finished bibique (when cool) in the refrigerator and re-start the baking process the next day.  Stir the batter well and start where you left off…. does not matter if the batter is cold. Trust me it does not affect the texture nor the taste!

It also helps to bake the bibique when you are doing some cooking or other chores in the kitchen because it is necessary to check on the baking every five minutes and if you undertake the “Bibique” project by itself, it would certainly be boring, tiring and make you impatient, unless you are baking four bibiques simultaneously, then you must concentrate on Bibique only!

Ingredients

• 1 cup/125 gms. Maida (Or 1/2 cup if you wish to use less flour)
• 10 Egg Yolks
• 2 cups/500 gms. Sugar
• 2 tins (400 ml each)/800 ml Coconut milk
• 2 to 3 tbs. Ghee (or more if desired upto 1 cup)
• 1 nutmeg, grated
• Pinch of Salt (optional)
• 2 tbsp. sugar for caramel to coat the baking dish.

1. Put the sugar in a bowl, add the yolks and beat well. Don’t discard the egg whites, use them to make Angel Food Cake.
2. Take a larger vessel, sieve the flour and gradually add the coconut milk stirring all the time ensuring there are no lumps.
3. Add the sugar-egg yolk mixture to the flour-coconut milk batter, mix and add the grated nutmeg and salt.  Mix well till sugar is completely dissolved.
4. Take a 8” dia. aluminium vessel or baking tin and keep on medium flame alongwith the 2 tbsp. sugar and heat till the sugar melts and caramelizes.
5. Coat the bottom of the pan with caramel. (This gives an even beautiful golden color to the bibique when turned out of the pan). Cool slightly.
6. Then pour 2 tbsp. ghee into it and put 1 cup measure of the batter.  Transfer to a pre-heated oven and bake till the sides turn golden brown, approx. 15 to 20 minutes on medium.
7. Turn off the oven and light the grill.  Keep on medium low. Place the tin under the grill but keep the rack on the lower level of the oven. If you keep it too close under the grill the bibique would brown too quickly leaving the layer underbaked or burnt.   Cook the top of the layer for approximately 15 minutes till it acquires a rich golden brown to almost a dark brown colour, so that it forms beautiful light and dark layers typical of this delicacy.
8. Check every five minutes and keep turning the tin around to brown evenly. If any air bubbles appear, pierce gently with a butter knife to let the air escape so that the layer is even and flat, or remove vessel and allow to settle or press lightly with the back of a spoon.
9. Add a tbsp. of ghee and add  ½ to 1 cup of the batter for the next layer and cook till the top turns golden brown.
10. Continue with the layers using 1/2 to 1 cup for each layer till all the batter is used up, this quantity of batter would give you approximately 7 to 10 layers.
11. Remove from oven and allow to cool down. Run a butter knife around the edges of the bibique to loosen it and turn out the bibique from the baking tin (while still slightly warm) onto a shallow or flat dish and cut into slices to serve.  If the bibique sticks to the bottom of the vessel (most likely to happen if left too long to cool) then heat it for some seconds on direct heat or place the vessel in a bowl of hot water to loosen the caramel and it should slide out easily when the pan is overturned.
12. A melt in the mouth Goan delicacy!
13. Please keep  the remaining bibique refrigerated and re-heat in microwave before serving.