How to Cook the Chocolaty Filipino Comfort Food Champorado

Champorado - chase your blues away with this easy-to-make Filipino cocoa rice porridge that is very popular in the Philippines.

Champorado is primarily made of sticky rice and cocoa powder, which has long been believed to keep depression at bay and the heart in shape.

Yes Virginia, cocoa powder in champorado is good for your cardiovascular health!

It has been proven to perk people up when they are down; reduce blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks; and even keep healthy blood flow and blood pressure.

Cocoa powder has been found to have mega-doses of antioxidants – two times that of red wine and three times that of green tea.

No wonder many Filipinos always find a reason to beam in spite of the typhoons, floods, and whatever hard knocks that always rock the Philippines.

You see, Pinoys love champorado on any given day. We eat it warm during rainy, cold season or chilled during the Philippines’ scorching days.

A word of caution though – the authentic champorado from the Philippines uses unprocessed cocoa powder from cocoa beans that have not been treated with alkalis, making it very nutritious and high in antioxidants.

Other kinds of cocoa powder may have been manufactured in a process that can make them utterly unhealthy.

It might interest you to know the story of how champorado landed its role as a staple Filipino food for breakfast or mid-afternoon snacks.

Filipinos actually learned how to make champorado back in the time when both the Philippines and Mexico were colonies of Spain.

That time, Filipinos would ride huge ships for the galleon trade all the way to Mexico, bringing with them – among others – the Philippine tuba .

On their way back to the Philippines, these same men brought the idea of how to cook champurrado, the Spanish version of this brownish, sticky dish.

Since then, the original recipe has changed and the Filipinos have prepared champorado to please their unique palate.

Ingredients for Champorado

• 8 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 1 cup of sticky rice
• ½ cup of sugar
• 4 cups of water
• milk

Tools for Preparing Champorado

• cooking pot
• small bowl
• serving bowl
• stirring ladle

Steps for Cooking Champorado

1. Pour three cups of water into a cooking pot and bring the liquid to a boil.
2. Once the water is boiling, pour one cup of sticky rice into the cooking pot.
3. Let the sticky rice and water simmer for a few minutes.
4. After a while, dilute eight tablespoons of cocoa powder in one cup of water in a small bowl.
5. Add in the diluted cocoa powder into the cooking pot.
6. Stir the mix continuously for several minutes for about 15 minutes.
7. Add in one-half cup of sugar and mix everything for another five minutes.
8. Once the sticky rice is cooked, remove the mix from the pot and place it in a serving bowl.
9. Champorado can be served hot with a swirl of milk on top.
10. Leftovers can be refrigerated then eaten chilled or reheated.

Copyright © 2011 Kerlyn Bautista

All Rights Reserved

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