There’s a little unspoken moral agreement I have with the people around me: bring me an ingredient, and I’ll make something with it—something original, of course.
This was one of the toughest challenges I’ve had so far: someone brought me a pound of Nerone rice from northern Italy.
When you first learn that Italians grow rice—and good rice, at that—you might wonder how it fits into Southern Europe, a land so deeply rooted in wheat culture. Then you remember a certain Marco Polo, who crossed the continent multiple times, forging extraordinary and improbable connections. Among other things, he brought back black rice, said to be reserved for the Sino-Mongol emperor of the time. Italian agronomists adapted it to create the variety we know today.
This whole-grain rice is tough to cook but readily shares its woody aromas, which are richer than its white counterparts, with whatever preparation it’s paired. Woody flavors call for chocolate, and chocolate almost inevitably calls for candied fruit.
For 6 ramekins
- 200 g of black rice
- 80 g of sugar
- 30 g of cocoa powder (I used raw cacao powder for a tangy note)
- 50 cl of whole milk
- 300 g of orange marmalade
Instructions
Fair warning: This recipe takes a loooong time to cook. That’s really the defining feature of it.
- Rinse the rice thoroughly.
- Place all the ingredients in a saucepan over very low heat.
- Cook for 2 hours and 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until you achieve a consistency similar to rice pudding.
To serve:
Spoon the champorado into ramekins and spread a layer of orange marmalade on top. Ideally, the orange slices in the marmalade should overlap as little as possible for a clean presentation.
