Horchata Anyone

[marlie202]

Need an easy recipe for this lovely drink--thanks

[morebubbles]

Since you asked to an easy recipe: do you know that you can buy a bag of 'instant' horchata in Latin grocery stores? The ones I know come from El Salvador. That may be the best solution as making it from scratch is not an easy process. Just add water!

[martasiete]

Here's a quick (sorta) down and dirty recipe: about 1 1/2 gallon good water, at least 1 cup good long grain rice (don't bother rinsing) a full stick of cinnamon. Let these things soak for at least one hour. Throw in blender, strain, return to blender add one small can carnation canned milk or regular milk if you wish - blend. Sweeten to taste. This was something my brother made for us whenever my mom or dad didn't make it fast enough - it worked. Oh, don't forget to chill it and add ice when you serve. You can also sprinkle extra cinnamon on it when you're ready to serve. Hope it hits the spot.

[cookiejesus]

I'd say it will hit the spot, but it will be much better if the rice is soaked at least overnight.

[martasiete]

Yes - always better if you can soak the rice over night - that was mom and dad's doing. they knew how, when etc., of the horchata and woudl make it if/when they remembered, which usually they did, to soak it overnight. Nights at our house were, put away the dishes, put out the trash, put out the cat, put out the rice to soak...not necessarily in that order. Every once in a while, one or the other was forgotten. But my brother had a quick fix - and it worked.

[sel]

I like it with 'sweetened condensed mild.' The recipe linked below is good for a start but I'm still searching for an ultimate horchata!

http://www.lalechera.com/EN/Recipes/D...

[Amanita]

This sounds really good. I just discovered horchata last summer - it wasn't around Callyfornia when I lived there 25 years ago. I also love the cantaloupe drink. What do you do, just blend cantaloupe and water?

[kindofabigdeal]

the rice isn't cooked beforehand?

[martasiete]

No! don't cook the rice! If you cook the rice, then you'll have to make arroz con leche (which isn't so bad, rice pudding, but it won't do for horchata) and that is difficult to drink and won't go down as easily on a hot day.

[goodfoodlovr]

Horchata is a rice beverage. I'm not sure its easy to make! But I can tell you that the concentrates you can buy in Mexican groacery stores here in the U. S. don't compare to real horchata. The concetrates are overly sweet and gritty. Maybe if you added cinnamon to vanilla Rice Dream you could come close? Just a guess. I've seen recipes for it but can't remember where--sorry. good luck!