The magic of Europe is like a magnet! Recently, Facebook memories showed us some old pictures of our trip to Italy. We felt so nostalgic for Italy: more so as we can’t travel anywhere now.

AN and I decided to make the Sunday special for the whole family by cooking an Italian lunch spread and watching old travel pics of Italy thereafter. Together, we made three lip-smacking Italian dishes: Baked Fennel, Seafood Spaghetti and Pollo Al Forno. (All these recipes are coming up on the blog.) And of course, we made this Italian dessert in the morning itself. Rules are meant to be broken, after all! So, we ate the dessert first. And it was such a wonderful dessert that we had to post this recipe first, before posting other recipes of our Italian Sunday lunch. This Chocolate Risotto is remarkable. Made with just a few ingredients, it is one of the easiest dessert recipes that we have tried. My version of Chocolate Risotto doesn’t even need an oven!

What… Chocolate Risotto for Breakfast?

So, we started the Sunday morning with this sinful Italian dessert. Did you say, who eats dessert for breakfast? Us, especially if the dessert is Chocolate. And rice is anyways a Bengali’s favourite food… traditionally, Bengalis like eating rice for breakfast. And this breakfast pudding with Italian rice and chocolate is a different game altogether. Sunday morning looked gorgeous with a bowl of Risotto al Cioccolato.

If you are still not convinced if this Easy Chocolate Risotto can be had for breakfast, let me tell you that the Filipino eat Chocolate-Rice for breakfast. The Filipino rice porridge is called Champorado, which is not always sweet, though. They serve it with salted fish.

What Kind of Rice Should I choose for Chocolate Risotto?

I used Arborio rice for this recipe. Carnaroli rice is great, too! Once, I used Sushi Rice to make another kind of Risotto, which turned out well. On another occasion I used Kerala Matta rice for making risotto and I was successful.

I don’t think that Basmati rice is a good choice here. But any starchy rice that is medium-grained and firm can be used for this recipe. So, experiment with other indigenous rice varieties, if you can!

Arborio rice or Carnaroli rice is the best option as far as making Risotto is concerned. These are plump rice grains with a little nutty flavour. These can be ordered online from gourmet stores across the country. I ordered Arborio Rice online from Urban Platter, a one-stop destination for most of my baking requirements. Urban Platter has been a boon in this lockdown, as I didn’t have to step out anywhere in search of special food ingredients. The quality of all its products (especially yeast) is very satisfactory.

But, if you do not get these gourmet rice varieties anywhere, do try with local rice grains. Just make sure to follow these points while choosing the rice:

• Medium-grained, plump rice.
• Should be firm after cooking.
• Starch content should be high.

What Kind of Chocolate to be Used for Chocolate Risotto?

Bittersweet chocolate with atleast 70% cacao content works the best! I used a mixture of Valrhona and a local brand of baking chocolate (from Ooty) for this recipe. Do not worry if you do not get bitter chocolate. Just use any good chocolate that is commonly available, but in that case, you have to reduce the sugar content accordingly in this recipe of Chocolate Risotto.

Ideas to Garnish the Chocolate Risotto

You may want to garnish the Chocolate Risotto for an added appeal. Here are a few ideas. You can use any of these:

• Toasted walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts
• Shaved chocolate or Chocolate Caraque
• Mango slices
• Vanilla icecream
• Orange zest
• Pistachio
• Italian cookies
• Fresh berries
• Chocolate syrup

The Risotto al Cioccolator or Chocolate Risotto is eaten warm. However, we like it at room temperature. The Chocolate Risotto thickens even more on refrigeration. So, tell me friends… anyone out there who starts their day with desserts? Let us know if you try this recipe of Risotto al Cioccolato. Tag us (@purabinaha) on Instagram!

Print Recipe

Risotto al Cioccolato | Easy Chocolate Risotto | Chocolate Rice Pudding

[I boiled the risotto rice in the pressure cooker until it is 80% cooked. Then I boiled it further in milk. The idea is to soften the rice quickly. This saves time and the result is still the same. If you do not want to use the Pressure Cooker, you can directly boil the soaked rice in boiled milk for 25 min.]

Servings: 10 people

Ingredients

• 1 cup Risotto rice (I used Arborio)
• 550 ml Full-cream milk
• 80 g Bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tbsp Butter
• ½ cup Sugar (or 100 g)
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• 4 tbsp Heavy cream
• Fresh mangoes/berries/Chocolate shavings to garnish

Instructions

• Wash the rice thoroughly. Soak it in water for 10 min. Pressure-cook the rice with water just enough to submerge the rice. Switch off the gas after one whistle on a medium flame and open the lid after 5 min.
• Bring the milk to a boil in a deep-bottomed pan. Simmer and add the cooked rice. Continue cooking till the rice is cooked. The rice grains should be a bit firm, yet cooked. This takes around 10 minutes, if the rice is already pressure-cooked. The rice should not be too soft and mushy.
• Put the butter and sugar into this. Break the chocolate into pieces and add into the pan. Cook for around 5 min, stirring continuously. At the end, the chocolate should melt completely.
• Remove the pan from heat and stir in the cream and cinnamon. Mix well.
• Cover the pan and let it come to room temperature. As the risotto cools down, it get thicker and creamier due to the starch present in the rice. Most milk gets absorbed as the risotto comes at room temperature. The texture changes by itself!
• Serve the Chocolate Risotto at room temperature with your choice of garnish. We love this with mango slices.