Real Horchata Food

AUTHENTIC HORCHATA

Steps:

• Grind rice into very fine, cornmeal-sized pieces using a blender or coffee grinder.
• Transfer ground rice to a medium bowl, pour warm water on top, and drop in cinnamon sticks. Cover and refrigerate, 8 hours to overnight.
• Remove the cinnamon sticks. Place mixture back in the blender and puree until as smooth as possible.
• Line a sieve with a couple layers of cheesecloth and strain the mixture. Squeeze cloths to extract as much flavor as possible.
• Stir in milk, sugar, and vanilla extract until sugar has dissolved. Chill completely, at least 2 hours.
• Serve over ice, garnished with cinnamon.

HORCHATA

Steps:

• Combine the rice and cinnamon stick with 4 cups water in a blender; pulse to coarsely grind. Transfer to a large bowl and add another 4 cups water; soak at room temperature for 3 hours.
• Puree the rice mixture in a blender in batches until smooth. Strain through cheesecloth or a fine sieve into a pitcher. Mix in the sugar; chill.
• Stir the horchata well before serving. Pour into ice-filled glasses; garnish with cinnamon sticks and a dusting of ground cinnamon.

HORCHATA DE ALMENDRA (ALMOND HORCHATA) FROM SPAIN

Steps:

• The first step is to remove the skins from the almonds.
• The best way to do this is to simply buy them already skinless.
• If none are available, you will have to boil the skins off.
• Put the almonds in a pot of boiling water and let sit until the skins become very soft.
• With time, the skins will dissolve or slide off easily when stirred.
• Boiling the almonds is a pain.
• Crush or otherwise pulverise the almonds into a coarse powder.
• If you boiled your almonds to get the skins off, then smash them (or put them in a strong blender while adding some water) into a mush.
• In a large bowl/container add the 2.5 liters of water with a pinch of salt.
• Slice and add the lemon.
• Now mix in the almond powder (or mush). Cover the container and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours.
• When the two hours are up, add the sugar and cinnamon stick.
• Stir until sugar is completely dissolved.
• Strain the liquid with a fine cloth.
• This removes all of the larger particles of almond.
• Strain until texture is smooth (twice should do it).
• Keep the drink in your fridge and it will stay good for at least five days.
• For a truly divine experience, put some in your freezer until it is an icy slush!

REAL HORCHATA

Steps:

• Wash white rice and place in a plastic bowl. Add cinnamon sticks and ONLY 1 1/2 cups of the water. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator for about 2 hours.
• In a blender, blend the rice/water/cinnamon mix for about 1 minute
• On top of a pitcher, strain the rice mixture thru a fine mesh sieve. While the sieve is still on top of the mixture, pour the rest of the the 7 cups of water. Keep in mind that you will not be able to filter out all of the rice thru the sieve, so there will be some remenants of the rice mix at the bottom of the pitcher. This is Ok, just give it a quick swirl before drinking.
• Add the 1 cup sugar or more if you would like it sweeter.
• Slice the lemon into round circles and add to pitcher.
• Swirl drink with spoon before serving or drinking. Serve cold.

HORCHATA MADE EASY

Steps:

• Heat water, sugar, and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until sugar is dissolved, whisking occasionally, about 5 minutes. Allow mixture to cool for 10 minutes.
• Pour rice milk into a large pitcher.
• Stir sugar water into rice milk. Serve chilled or over ice.

HORCHATA RECIPE

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, add the rice, whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon sticks.
• Pour hot water into the mixture and stir until the sweetened condensed milk dissolves.
• Allow mixture to come to room temperature. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap then refrigerate the mixture for a minimum of 2 hours. Refrigerate up to 12 hours for a more concentrated flavor.
• Uncover the mixture. Remove the cinnamon sticks and discard.
• Strain the mixture to separate the rice. Reserve the liquid.
• Add the rice and 1.5 cups of the strained liquid to your blender. Blend for 3 minutes until the rice is liquefied.
• Strain the blended rice back into the reserved liquid. Blend the horchata mixture again if the mixture is gritty.
• Serve over ice with a sprinkle of cinnamon.