AGUA DE HORCHATA
Mexican Sweet Rice Drink
PREP: 10 MIN CHILL: 8 HR SERVINGS: 7
TIPS FOR BEST HORCHATA
Use a blender. Otherwise you won’t get near as much flavor from the rice and cinnamon.
Use whole cinnamon sticks for best flavor. Ground cinnamon surprisingly doesn’t taste the same.
Allow enough time to soak. The lengthy soak time allows for the flavors of the rice and cinnamon to be extracted and absorbed into the water. It makes it creamier too.
Strain. You’ll have a lot of left over rice and cinnamon stick solids to be tossed, if you skipped the straining you’d be left with an unbearable overload of grittiness. You can even strain twice if you feel you didn’t catch it all the first time.
Serve it ice cold. Horchata is always best served well chilled over a bed of ice.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup of white rice
- 1 cup sugar adjust depending on how sweet you want - 2/3 cup of sugar if you want it less sweet.
- 1/2 cup chopped almonds
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 1 Can 12 ounces Evaporated milk
- 1.5 cups of milk or almond milk
- 1 Liter of water
- Ice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Start by soaking the rice, cinnamon, and almonds in a bowl of water all night, or at least for 5 hours so that the rice softens slightly.
- Strain the water from the cinnamon, rice, and almond mixture that were soaking, disposing of water.
- Blend the cinnamon, rice, and almond mixture with evaporated milk until a smoother mix is formed and the grains of rice are completely ground.
- Strain the resulting liquid into a pitcher, and add the sugar, vanilla, and milk.
- Mix well until everything is well combined.
- Add a liter of water, and serve with ice. Enjoy!