Champorado with Coconut Milk

Summer is almost officially over in the Philippines. Rainy season is upon us. We've been experiencing rainshowers for the past couple of days, thankfully. My plants will not dry up that much anymore. And with the rainy season coming, it is high time for hearty meals that will not only fill our stomach but also give us warm and comfort.

Time to indulge in a bowl of hot and chocolatey champorado with coconut milk! Yes, I just discovered that you may add coconut milk to chocolate rice porridge.

All you need is a cup of glutinous rice, 2 tablets of tablea or cacao blocks, 1 cup of sugar, 3 cups
of water, 1 pack of coconut milk powder mix dissolved in 1 cup of water. Unfortunately, I didn't find any fresh coconut milk in the market so I settled for the next best thing. But if you do find coconut milk, you'll need 1 and a half cups of freshly pressed coconut milk. And you'll also need a pinch of salt. The first time I heard about adding salt to a sweet dish was way back when I was in grade school during our Home Economics class. My teacher said back then that it adds some sort of contrast to the taste (or something to that effect, I can't really remember clearly. It was eons ago.)

First, wash the glutinous rice and drain. In a pot, pour 3 cups of water, add the glutinous rice and let boil over medium heat. Stir rice constantly to prevent them from sticking under the pan. While waiting for the rice to boil, go ahead and grate the tablea blocks so it will be easier to incorporate in the rice. Add the grated tablea blocks into the boiling rice. Add sugar. Let your inner Dory out and just keep stirring, just keep stirring, just keep stirring, stirring stirring. Add a pinch of salt.

Once you see that the chocolate has fully mixed into the rice and you feel that the champorado is about ready to be served, pour in the coconut milk. Just give it 1 to 2 minutes of stirring and you're good to go.

Speaking of adding contrast to the sweetness, it is best to serve champorado with fried tuyo (dried fish). You may eat the tuyo on the side, but as for me, I cut down the tuyo in to small bite sized bits and mix it into my champorado bowl. Yum!