Horchata is a delicious, creamy, refreshing drink found all over South America and various versions across most countries that have Spanish or Portugese influences. It’s usually made out of rice, nuts, coconut and flavored with Cinnamon. There’s even a Goan version called Orchat (according to Wikipedia).
Horchata is a perfect summer drink and while we’re still in the middle of winter, Bombay is feeling a bit warm and a cool drink in the middle of the day sounds lovely. We got a delicious and simple recipe from a friend of ours in San Francisco, Alli Novak, and we loved the drink so much we couldn’t wait to share it.
Horchata
Ingredients
1 Coconut (mature)
1 can Condensed Milk
2-3 Cinnamon sticks
2 cups uncooked Rice
Directions
Soak rice for 2-6 hours in enough water to cover it. Drain rice water into a container and reserve for later. Put rice and cinnamon sticks in a blender.
Crack open your coconut and drain the coconut water and add it into the rice water. Remove the flesh from the coconut and add it to the rice and cinnamon in the blender. Blend (pulsing) ingredients until chopped into small pieces, but not so far that it becomes like coarse sand.
Pass the blended ingredients through a large wire mesh colander into a container underneath it. Pour condensed milk and the reserved rice and coconut water onto the wire mesh containing the blended mixture and let it also drain slowly into the container underneath.
Your Horchata is ready. You can adjust the taste by adding more water or condensed milk depending on your preferences. Enjoy this ice cold.
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