Recipe: Filipino Champorado

This is one of my favorite Filipino breakfast/dessert treats.  It took forever to get the recipe from my mother.  I told you, she never taught me how to cook nor did she want to share any recipes.  She hates going “step-by-step” because she says “ebryting ish jez in my hed, yew noe?  Ay!  I deedent write it down!”

Champorado
Serves 2-4

You’ll need:
- 1 cup sweet rice (found at your local Asian grocery)
- 2 cups water
- ¼ cocoa (mixed with ½ cup water + ⅛ tsp vanilla extract)
- milk (evaporated or condensed)
- granulated sugar

Directions:
In a medium pot, wash rice with water once, drain then combine washed rice with 2 cups water. Cook rice over medium heat. My mother always says, “Be sure to constantly stir to avoid burning the rice!” I personally think you just need to stir every so often. Do this for about 15-20 minutes.

While the rice cooks/thickens, combine the cocoa mix until dissolved. Another mama tip: heat the mixture in the microwave for about a minute then stir to combine.

After rice is somewhat transparent, add cocoa mixture. Again, stir to combine for about 15 minutes. If mixture looks too thick, add ¼ water until desired consistency.

Serve in bowls with evaporated or condensed milk. I prefer evaporated so I can control how sweet it tastes by adding sugar myself! Plus, I don’t like it when my chocolate rice is super thick.

Many eat this dish for breakfast (like we did this morning) and some eat it as a snack. I’ve read online that it’s best served with fish. That’s a first for me. Never have I done that.  My mom usually serves it with pandesal (filipino dinner roll).