champorado

Today is Champorado day. It's been raining a lot lately and nothing beats a having a warm bowl of chocolate porridge. And by the way, "Champorado" actually exists in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champorado. Champorado is a Filipino-style chocolate porridge that I learned how to make when I was only about 8.

Champorado topped with powdered milk.

Leftover cooked white rice can be used or raw white rice if you choose to cook from scratch. To use leftover rice, here's the basic procedure:

1. Wash cooked rice to separate the grains and strain it.
2. Add water enough to drown the cooked rice.
3. Bring to boil and then add cocoa. Sweetened or unsweetened cocoa may be used whichever is preferred.
4. Stir occasionally until it has a sticky consistency.
5. Turn off the heat and serve with milk and/or sugar.

To cook Champorado using raw white rice:

1. Cook rice as usual but use an excessive amount of water. Rice cooker may be used.
2. Bring to boil and then stir the rice to keep it from clumping.
3. Add more water if the rice is soaking up all of the fluid. The key is to have excess water since since we'e making a porridge.
4. When rice is cooked, add the cocoa power.
5. Follow steps 4 and 5 above.

Some use glutinous rice in place of the regular white rice. In my case, I prefer regular white rice because the cocoa powder already makes it sticky. My favorite serving style is topping the Champorado with powered full cream milk. Sweetened condensed milk will also do the trick.