It has become routinary for me to wake up in wee hours. I usually spend my time during these hours reading and curating posts on hive. I guess my body clock has been set to this. I blame it to the busy schedules at work during the day and slow internet connectivity during the early evening. Here in the Philippines, we have the slowest internet connection. Sad but true but we have to deal with it. So, if you hate being interrupted by a lagging connectivity while watching your favorite netflix series or if you hate reading hive post without the photos showing, then timing when to use the internet is an essence. I usually get good internet data connection during wee hours.
It's December and nights are becoming cooler here coupled with a sudden downpour of the rain. While reading and curating, there's a sudden downpour of the rain, it set my appettite mode on. I suddenly craved for a hot champorado or chocolate porridge. Luckily upon checking the fridge, I still have a pack of tablea. Tablea are roasted, ground cocoa seeds molded into round tablets.. I make sure to store tablea because champorado is the easiest to prepare and everyone at home loves it.
Let me show you how I prepared this delicious midnight snack which is also perfect when it rains.
Cooking Champorado during the wee hours, here's the ingredients.
- leftover rice (scorched rice is ok).
Usually the scorched part of rice go to waste since it's hard and crunchy and it sticks stubbornly to the bottom of the pot. But cooking it into champorado saves it. And also, for me it is better to use leftover rice than uncooked rice since it will take lesser time to cook it.
- tablea
- water
- sugar
- milk (optional)
When buying tablea, I choose our locally made tablea. There is a noticeable difference in taste and texture of the tablea depending on who made it and where it is made. Just like any other products, different producer, different taste. Tablea is not really commercially mass produced here in the country. It is made by locals who has been passed on with the skill of tablea making.
So, here's how I cook my favorite snack, the champorado...
- Put all the ingredients in the cooking pot - rice, tablea and water. There is no exact measurement but make sure to put more water. For me, one bowl of rice is to two bowls of water and two and half pieces of tablea.
Let the mixture cook over high heat until it boils. When it boils, lower the heat as to not let the mixture spill out of the pot.
Leave it cooking for at least 10 to 15 minutes until the texture becomes a little sticky and soft.
This is how it looks like when it is not yet done.
This is how it looks like when it's done and ready to serve.
4.Mix it with sugar and milk (optional) to sweeten.
There you have it, a delicious chocolatey treat anytime of the day or night. 😄 Though I believe the wee hours are not the best time to serve this. No wonder I am gaining more weight, lol! But I enjoyed it and my craving is satisfied. So I am happy 😄! Let's be happy!
Thank you for reading.