Day 6: GET Potluck and Chocolate Rice Dessert

On Saturday, we had leftover coconut rice pudding for breakfast and leftovers for lunch (refried beans with lemon juice and butter beans).

For our Saturday night potluck and film night, dinner was a fabulous Indian-style three bean chili prepared by one of our team members and trip leader, Shireen. GREAT food and fellowship!

Our contribution to the potluck was a sticky rice dessert modified from a Filipino chocolate rice porridge recipe called champorado. The resulting dessert was similar to a type of Filipino rice cake called bibingka, but since I didn't bake it, and cooked it in a pot instead, I'm not sure it qualifies. I served it in a tray and sliced it into squares, so perhaps it would almost count as cake.

The dish is VERY simple and it can also be eaten for breakfast. There are very few ingredients, and the whole dish should take no more than 30-45 minutes.

    

Chocolate Sticky Rice Dessert / Champorado / Filipino Chocolate Rice Porridge

2 cups sticky rice (glutinous rice, or malagkit in the Philippines)
3-4 cups water
1 can coconut milk (or 1-2 cups milk from your fridge)
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 can condensed milk

In a large pot, bring 3.5 cups water and sticky rice to a boil. Add the evaporated milk and coconut milk and bring to a boil again. Add cocoa powder and bring temperature down to low-medium heat and stir continuously. Add additional water if the rice is starting to stick.

After about 15-20 minutes stirring frequently, check the consistency of the rice to see if is soft enough and the right consistency. Add most of the can of condensed milk; continue to stir and make sure the rice does not burn or stick to the pot.

When you achieve the desired consistency of the rice, remove from heat and spoon it into a serving tray. Allow the dish to cool for 15 minutes and drizzle the remaining condensed milk on top. When served warm, it will have a softer more pudding-like consistency. When served cold, the rice will have absorbed more of the liquid, and the dessert will be thicker, almost the consistency of brownies or other dense dessert. The recipe yields approximately two dozen smaller servings. The picture below shows one Pyrex dish, but we filled two. When reheating for breakfast, you may want to add more milk or water to achieve a porridge consistency, but I prefer to eat the leftovers cold or at room temperature.

OK, the picture doesn't look too appetizing but I promise it is yummy.

A few notes - you can definitely do lots of substitutions or swaps:

• If you don't have condensed milk, use about 1/2 to 1 cup sugar (or more if you really like it sweet).
• You can also use a different kind of rice. The glutinous rice does better with "sticking" to itself to make it more suitable for desserts. If you do use another type of rice, the resulting dessert will be more like porridge. But it should still taste very good and chocolate-y.
• If you don't have cocoa powder, use a bar of chocolate, and chop it up first so it melts and mixes faster.
• If you don't have coconut or evaporated milk, use the milk you have - whole milk, soy milk, etc.
• You can also add cinnamon, a dash of vanilla extract, and other flavors you prefer.

Essentially, it is hard to mess this recipe up!