Mexican Horchata: Rice and Almond Drink
Horchata is one of Mexico's most common agua frescas: an easy-to-make rice flavored drink that offers up all sorts of great combos. Lately I've been adding coconut milk to it -- yum!
Servings: 6
Calories: 251kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry, uncooked white rice
- 3/4 cup raw almonds
- 1 cinnamon stick (or 1/2 teaspoon ground)
- 8 cups water
- 3/4 cup sugar
Instructions
- Add 1 cup white rice to a blender or food processor and grind it as fine as you can.
- Add 3/4 cup raw almonds, 1 cinnamon stick, 1/4 cup sugar and only 4 cups of warm water. Blend together.
- Let this mixture sit overnight in the fridge.
- The next day, give it another blend and then add 4 cups of cold water and another 1/2 cup sugar. Combine well and taste for sweetness, adding more sugar if needed.
- Strain the mixture and discard the leftover solids. Using a fine mesh sieve works but you can also add a few layers of cheesecloth to it if you want.
- Serve immediately over ice and optionally add a final dash of cinnamon.
Notes
Sometimes I keep the concentrated version on hand (with only 4 cups of water) and use it to make smoothies. My latest smoothie: add a few servings of Horchata to a blender along with coconut milk (approx. 1/3 cup), ice, and vanilla protein powder. You could also use the concentrated version to make milkshakes.
I typically use raw almonds but I've used roasted, salted almonds before and still got a good result.
Nutrition
Calories: 251kcal