Horchata Recipe
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A common drink found alongside aguas frescas in Mexican taquerias, horchata is a milky-looking, yet dairy-free, libation. Made with ground-up rice, toasted almonds, a bit of cinnamon, and some lime, it’s a perfect summertime refreshment and is even tastier when spiked.
Game plan: Start this recipe a day ahead, as the ground ingredients need to soak overnight.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/4 cups long-grain white rice
- 2 (1/2-inch) cinnamon sticks
- 1 cup blanched, sliced almonds, toasted and cooled
- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 (2-inch-long) lime zest strip, removed with a vegetable peeler
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pulverize the rice and cinnamon in a spice grinder in batches until the mixture resembles a fine powder. Place in a 2-quart container with a tightfitting lid. Next, pulverize the almonds in the spice grinder until finely ground but not a paste. Add the almond powder to the rice-cinnamon mixture, pour in the water, and stir to combine. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 12 hours.
- Add the sugar and zest to the mixture and, using a blender, blend in batches on high until smooth. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer placed over a bowl. Using a rubber spatula, press on the solids to extract all of the liquid, then discard the solids.
- Stir the lime juice into the horchata, then transfer the beverage to a pitcher and chill in the refrigerator. Serve over ice.
Is this safe? Sitting 12 hours at rom temperature, this sounds like it would be a perfect culturing medium for B. cereus. Call me paranoid but that is something I would prefer to avoid, as delicious as this recipe sounds.
Can't you make it with decent makes of rice milk and nut milk? I am in UK, spicing looks fab but there must be an easier way to do this lovely looking drink.
Um...YUM!!!
Have to try this to see how citrus plays with horchata - I too have never tasted lime when I've ordered this drink.
I was wondering the same thing-- I've never, ever had citrus in my horchata, and I make a point to try it everywhere I see it.
Lime?? Who puts lime in horchata?
None of the Mexican joints around
here use lime.
Paulj I don't disagree at all, but to post a recipe about Horchata and not at least mention the numerous other types is sloppy.
I'd laugh if someone who had been to Spain tried that recipe expecting the Iberian version of the beverage.
Americans (USA) are more likely to encounter the Mexican rice based horchata than the Spanish tiger-nut (chufas) version. Curiously on the Bizzare Foods episode, Andrew did not like the taste of the churfa version. I've never tasted that. As you say the word can be traced back to Latin, 'ordi' (barley, according to the Wiki article). So who's to say whether the rice version is closer or further from a Roman barley water? Also from the same Latin root is orgeat, which is almond based. Koreans make a similar rice and malted barley drink.
Canela is in fact true cinamon. The thicker tougher stuff is cassia bark.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon...
And the Chow recipe for Spanish Horchata is not a particularly good one, I have commented on it.
I'd recommend using canela instead of normal cinnamon, it's easier to grind and the flavor works better in the drink.
So true StriperGuy! If anyone is interested in the Spanish version we also have this recipe: http://www.chow.com/recipes/10462?tag.... Equally delicious!
All well and good, but the original horchata is from Spain and is not made from rice at all.. I've posted about it several times. The root of the word is originally latin.
To just post about Mexican horchata and not discuss the numerous other versions is a fairly significant oversight.