Horchata, pronounced as 'or-CHAH-tah' , is a sweet and refreshing Mexican beverage! It is commonly made with rice and is flavored with cinnamon and sweetened with sugar.
You can find many versions of this drink where nuts, seeds and vanilla too are added, for the Steemit Culinary Challenge of this week, I decided to make my version of this delicious Mexican drink!
With Mexico's hot climate, this drink is served over ice as a cooling beverage! I can assure you it is really refreshing, I just had a long glass!
The journey of Horchata
Before looking into the recipe, let us find out a little bit about this drink roots!
Surprisingly we see that horchata was first made in Egypt where chufa nuts were used to make it! Then it made its way to Spain where it is called horchata de chufa.
When finally the Spanish brought horchata to Mexico, the natives replaced the chufa nuts with rice! But you can still find the chufa version in Mexico as well!
Horchata can be found in most Mexican restaurants and is often sold by street vendors in Mexico.
To make this refreshing Almond and Rice Horchata, you will simply need :
- 1/2 cup of whole almonds
- 1 cup of long grain rice
- 5 cups of almond milk
- 3 cinnamon stick
- Raw sugar to taste
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of cinnamon powder
Start by firstly soak the rice and almonds in some warm water for approx. 2 hours.
You can soak it overnight in cold water if you have time.
Drain the rice and peel the almonds as you can see below.
I discarded the rice water.
Place the peeled almond, soaked rice and raw sugar in your blender.
Add the almond milk and blend for 2 minutes.
Blend until the rice and almond are well crushed and you have a frothy texture.
Pour the mixture in a jar, add the vanilla essence and the cinnamon stick.
Let it infuse in the fridge for 4 hours, until it is well chilled and all the flavors diffused in the drink!
Pass the horchata through a fine strainer and discard the residues!
And here you are , the almond and rice horchata is ready!
You can pour on ice cubes and enjoy right away if you like it more chilled!
I added some cinnamon powder on top and it was really very tasty!
So voila my dear friend, my personal touch on this Mexican classic drink!
Do you like it!? Then try it!
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