Double Chocolate Champorado

If you have leftover rice, heat it with milk and add chocolate to make champorado. If, like me, you’re not a fan of tuyo (salted dried fish), garnish with salted nuts and, for added richness, milk chocolate morsels.

Let’s make three things clear first. First, this is not Mexican champurrado but Filipino champorado, a rice and chocolate dish popularly served for breakfast or snack.

Second, this is not the traditional way of cooking champorado. This is a salvage operation to get creative with so much leftover rice I cooked for New Year’s Eve.

Third, the procedure will only work with cooked medium or short-grain rice. Long grain rice which is less starchy will yield a soupy result rather than the thick porridge consistency that traditional champorado has.

My brother and his family came over for New Year’s Eve and, because I know my nephews to be rice eaters, I cooked plenty of rice. But Alex baked two large pizzas and the rice turned out to be excess carbs. There was way too much rice sitting in the fridge for days and I just had to get creative with it. Fried rice is great but how much fried rice could we eat day after day?

So, one way of salvaging the rice was to make champorado. It worked because we use Japanese rice at home. While not as sticky as glutinous rice which is what is traditionally used for cooking champorado, Japanese rice is starchy enough to make a sufficiently thick porridge.

What I did was to heat the rice in milk with a generous pinch of salt. I did this over low heat to give the rice grains a chance to absorb the milk and soften without allowing the milk to curdle.

Next, I added plenty of chopped dark chocolate. While tablea is traditional for cooking champorado, it will not work for a salvage operation like this because it just isn’t rich enough. It was the dark chocolate that thickened the champorado.

I cooked the milk, rice and chocolate slowly, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate was completely melted.

To add more chocolatey flavor to my champorado, I sprinkled it with milk chocolate morsels before serving. And for contrast in texture, salted toasted walnuts.

Double Chocolate Champorado

This recipe does not describe the traditional way of cooking Filipino champorado. This is a salvage operation to make good use of leftover rice. I used Japanese rice but the procedure given below will work for any short or medium-grain rice.

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Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: Filipino

Keyword: Leftovers

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 4 people

Author: Connie Veneracion

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• salt
• 2 cups milk (I used full fat)
• 2 cups cold cooked rice (short or medium-grain rice only!)
• 100 to 150 grams dark chocolate chopped (see notes after the recipe)
• 4 tablespoons milk chocolate morsels

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Instructions

• Spread the walnuts in an oil-free pan and sprinkle with salt. Toast, shaking the pan occasionally, until aromatic. Set aside.
• Pour the milk into a sauce pan and crumble the cold rice directly into the milk. Add a generous pinch of salt.
• Heat the milk and rice slowly, keeping the stove on the lowest setting.
• When the milk and rice are simmering, add the dark chocolate and stir. Cook, still over low heat with occasional stirring, until the chocolate is completely melted.
• Ladle the cooked champorado into four bowls. Sprinkle with milk chocolate morsels and salted toasted walnuts. Serve at once.

Notes

I used sweetened dark chocolate. If using unsweetened, add sugar to suit your taste.

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