Easy Horchata Recipe

Horchata is a creamy and delicious agua fresca that is commonly served in Mexican restaurants around the world. It is often made with just rice, cinnamon, milk and condensed milk, but I saw a recipe on a blog called My Latina Table which used almonds, so I decided to give it a try. And it was so, so good! The addition of almonds gives the horchata a very badam kheer-esque taste which I absolutely loved.

It is a pretty simple recipe which essentially requires just a few ingredients:

• Rice – You can use any type of white rice. I went with short grained raw rice just because I thought its flavour would suit this drink better.
• Almonds
• Cinnamon Stick – I recommend using the cinnamon stick which has a thin bark. It is called Ceylon cinnamon and it is a bit expensive, but its flavour is much superior when compared to the regular thick barked cinnamon.
• Condensed Milk
• Milk
• Water
• Vanilla extract

There is some prep work involved in this. You have to soak the rice, almonds and cinnamon in water for at least 8 hours so that it is easier to grind the mixture. But it takes literally 1 minute, so it’s not a big deal. You also need a good quality blender (to grind up the rice and almonds), a strainer and two layers of cheesecloth or cotton cloth (to filter the liquid out).

Easy Horchata Recipe

Recipe by NaziaCourse: DrinksCuisine: MexicanDifficulty: Easy

Makes

4

servings

Prep time

8

hours

Making time

15

minutes

A super easy recipe for the classic Mexican agua fresca. This recipe makes a basic horchata that is sweet, creamy and absolutely refreshing.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup short-grained raw rice, rinsed

• 1/4 cup chopped almonds

• 1 small stick Ceylon cinnamon

• 1 cup hot water

• 200ml sweetened condensed milk

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 3/4 cup milk

• 1.25 cups cold water

• ice, to serve

• 2 tsp cinnamon powder, to serve

Directions

• In a bowl, add rice, almonds, cinnamon stick and hot water. Allow the mixture to cool down completely before covering and refrigerating for a minimum of 8 hours.
• After 8 hours, pour the contents of the bowl into a high-powered blender. Add half of the condensed milk and blend for about 10 to 15 minutes until the rice and almonds are completely ground.
• Place a strainer over a large bowl and line the strainer with two layers of cheesecloth. Pour the contents of the blender over the strainer. Strain all of the liquid into the bowl. I like to bring the edges of the cheesecloth together into a parcel and squeeze the liquid out.
• Remove strainer from the bowl and discard the rice and almond bits.
• Add the remaining condensed milk, vanilla extract, milk and cold water into the bowl. Mix until fully combined.
• Pour into individual glasses and serve with ice and a sprinkling of cinammon powder.

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