Hi, Hivers!
Last week, the gorgeous and supercook 
I am from Venezuela, from a coastal city of more or less 360 thousand inhabitants; my city (Cumaná) is sunny and its breeze tastes of salt and sea, so refreshing drinks are traditional and usually very ecocomical to prepare around here, as is the case of fermented drinks based on rice, vegetables and fruit shells; some of these drinks are called chicha.
Today I want to share with you my own homemade recipe for fermented rice chicha, inspired by that of my hometown grandmothers, only with an interesting twist--or two--to make it a little more playful and pleasing to the eye.
When I was little, grandmothers used to say that rice was "cold," so you couldn't drink chicha if you had a cold. I never understood that, although I still obeyed.
Nor did I understand how chicha was a refreshing drink if lemonade or Coca-Cola were the drinks that could hold that status--I was a child.
But one grows and learns; so I did understand the latter when on a field trip organized by my 6th grade teacher, a chicha saved me from hunger and thirst in a split second! I stopped dragging my legs and sweating, and kept feeling the soft texture and delicious flavor in my mouth, which was quite a surprise for me, as I had always been a bit creeped out by the lumpy aspect of this drink. That day was one of the best school days I can remember.
For chicha, the base of this drink:
- 1 cup of uncooked white rice soaked for 3 days in enough water to cover it.
- 7 cups of water to cook the rice + 1 cup approx. to blend
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla essence
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
(We will not use sugar)
For the cane honey syrup:
- One 500 gram cane honey bar or half "piloncillo" of 500 grams.
- 2 tablespoons of orange peel shavings
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 500 ml of water
For the drink:
- 2 liters of homemade chicha, without sugar.
- 1/2 liter of cane honey sirup, flavored with orange peel.
- 4 spoonfuls of toasted and coarsely crushed pistachio nuts.
- Cinnamon powder to taste
- Cocoa powder to taste (without sugar)
The drink I present below is based on rice chicha, and basically, there are 3 ways to make it: 1. you can overcook the rice straight from the package, and then you blend it; 2. or first you soak the raw grain for a minimum of 3 hours, and then blend and cook it, or vice versa; or, finally, 3. you do as we do at home: leave the raw grain soaking in water for 3 days to achieve fermentation and then cook it in new water. I'm telling you about it.
For the rice to ferment properly, wash it very well, scrubbing the grains under running water. Then wash it with filtered water and place it in a sterilized container. Finally, cover it with filtered water; place a clean, dry cloth on top and wait 2-3 days. You'll find that as fermentation occurs, a foam forms on the surface and the ferment develops an unpleasant smell, like something you'd never want to drink! XD
Wash the rice very well under the tap; you'll see that it's become rough; this is because it's ready now to release all the starch, which will give the chicha the desired texture. Put the rice in a pot and add the water, cinnamon, salt and vanilla. Bring the pot to medium heat.
Stir from time to time, to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot and to help the rice release the starch and cook until it becomes very soft, forming a paste; 30 minutes will be enough.
Let the rice paste cool slightly. After approx. 20 minutes, blend it in parts in the blender, adding enough water to obtain 2 liters of chicha. In my case, this time I added 1 cup of water in three parts.
We want the chicah to be cold when we prepare our drink, because if it is still warm, it will cause the ice to melt too quickly. So let it cool well in the refrigerator; 1 hour will be enough.
While the chicha cools, we'll make the cane honey syrup and prepare the other ingredients for our drink.
Cut the honey cane bar into 4-5 cm pieces and put them in a pot; add the water. Bring the pot to a boil over medium heat and add the salt and orange peel.
Scrape the orange peel with a knife to obtain flakes.
Let them cook in the cane honey mixture. Leave the lid slightly open, but do not remove it, as the syrup may splash out as it begins to take on texture.
The syrup will take about 20 minutes to be ready. Then let it cool completely. Use a strainer to separate the orange zest "flakes," which you'll use for a delicious and handsome garnish.
While the syrup is cooling, we can toast the pistachios and prepare everything to serve these chichas that no one will forget. Use some crushed ice to help the chicha become less thick. Serve it in a glass and put some syrup on top. Then sprinkle with crushed pistachios and decorate with the orange zest flakes.
Try sprinkling some ground cinnamon and/or some cocoa powder.
Use as much ice as you like.
You can also mix all the ingredients in the jar, and it will be just perfect because you can store in the fridge this way, and you'd only have to put some ice and some extra syrup, or sprinkle some ground cinnamon on top every time :)
