Coconut Champorado

This dish holds a lot of mixed memories for me. Growing up it was one of my favorite breakfasts (because what kid doesn’t want chocolate for breakfast??). My grandmother would keep huge bars of baking chocolate in the freezer just for champorado. My cousins and I would even mix chocolate syrup and milk with our rice for a quick snack. It’s definitely not the same, but it’s reminiscent in the way instant ramen is reminiscent of real ramen. A cheap substitute.

And then I got to college and started making it for myself…and people told me it was gross (they didn’t taste it. they just saw it). That chocolate and rice don’t go together. That rice wasn’t meant to be sweet. That it was weird.

Uhh…seriously? Rice is so neutral, that’s pretty much it’s whole point. If rice can’t be sweet, how in the world is rice pudding so popular? Whatever, haters. Rice and chocolate are like peas and carrots. Like bacon and eggs. They just go.

Over Christmas my aunt made champorado with coconut, and I loved the extra dimension of flavor the subtle coconut added. This is my version. Made with arborio rice for extra creaminess (any rice will do, though) and only slightly sweet because that’s how I remember it. You can add more sugar if you’d like this to be dessert instead of breakfast, or serve it with sweetened condensed milk on the side to sweeten to your liking.

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Yield: serves 4

Ingredients

1/2 cup arborio rice*
2 cans coconut milk (13.5oz each)
1 cup water
4-5 Tbs cocoa powder, unsweetened
1/2 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
Dried coconut for topping (optional)

Instructions

Place water and coconut milk in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Add the rice, cocoa powder and sugar and lower the heat to low.
Simmer for 30-40 minutes until rice is cooked through.