Cocoa Rice

I invented this cocoa rice recipe as part of my efforts to cook a rice dish with a greater nutritional value that would also be appealing enough for my 7 year old daughter to enjoy. Plain rice alone is just that – plain. It’s doesn’t really have that much going on other than carbs.

I’ve tried rice and peas which is a great dish. All types of beans can be mixed with the rice especially kidney beans, black eyed peas and gungo peas which give it extra flavour protein colour and texture. My little girl unfortunately has decided that she doesn’t like any form of dried beans so I had to come up with something different.

I tried Quinoa which again worked really well but she didn’t like how they look. And I tried Chia which is a very nutritional food but she didn’t like having little black seeds in her rice.

So finally, after searching the cupboard for something to add to the rice I was planning on cooking with  some lamb chops, I moved a packet of Cocoa Powder to one side and “thought hold on, people are cooking with this stuff now, I’m gonna try something crazy and new”.

At first I added around a half cup full of cocoa powder to the rice but quickly came to my senses realising that if I tried to cook it like that, it could well end up becoming a chocolate rice gateaux. So I rinsed most of the cocoa out of the rice. After I cooked it, it took on a lovely brown colour. I served it up to my family and reminded my daughter how much she loved Cocoa Pops and how they are made of rice with cocoa. I then revealed to her that this was the same stuff but the “for dinner version” with no milk or sugar. She ate the whole plate with no hesitation and said she loved it. Job done!

Cocoa power is what is known as a super food and contains really high levels of Dietary Fibre, Protein, Iron, Copper, Phosphorous, Manganese. It gives the rice a slight nutmeggy flavour and a lovely brown colour. Most importantly it boosts the nutritional potency of plain white rice and you and your children will love it.

You'll Need

• 1 1/2 cups of plain white basmati rice or whatever rice you prefer.
• 3 cups of water
• 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon of chopped onion

Method

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Total Cooking Time = 14 mins, 0 secs

1. Put the rice in a microwave safe dish
2. Rinse the rice with water until most of the starch is removed and the water in the dish is relatively clear
3. Add the cocoa powder
4. Add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt if you wish and stir it all together
5. Add enough water so that the water level is twice as high as the level of the rice in the dish.
6. Cover the dish and place into the microwave
7. Cook on full power for 11 minutes
8. Remove and stir everything together
9. Cover and cook for another 3 minutes on full power
10. Remove from microwave and stand for a few minutes

To Serve Cocoa Rice

Cocoa rice is a really good side dish for red meat such as lamb chops and meat stews. It is also nice with roast chicken.

Cocoa Rice Tips

Experiment with the amount of cocoa powder you add to the rice but don't put too much in or you may end overpowering the dish.