Horchata is a refreshing Mexican drink made with rice, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. It gives a great balance when served with spicy foods. Enjoy this drink served over ice.
I have since made this 3 times and found the trick to perfecting this the second time around! Here's my recommendation for "authentic" homemade horchata: put 1 1/3 cup rice in the blender - add about 2 cups of water and 2 cinnamon sticks and blend until the rice and cinnamon are roughly ground. Add the remaining water and blend thoroughly. Pour into a pitcher and place in the refrigerator to soak (overnight is best) - or at the very least 4-5 hours. Strain the mixture through a sieve. I doubled the amount of milk called for - and about half the sugar (a generous 1/3 cup as I like my horchata not too sweet) and a generous splash of vanilla. PERFECTO! - 16 Jul 2008 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
wonderful! I used my coffee grinder to grind up the rice before soaking because my blender is broken and the food processor didn't do the trick. It worked great. Also I made a syrup of the last cup of water, sugar, cinnamon and cinnamon sticks and then added it to the rice water. It seemed to help the sugar and cinnamon mix better that way. Oh and don't throw out the rice. It's perfect for Creamy Rice pudding (recipe on this site) - 12 Jan 2008 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)
This is the best horchata recipe I have ever found. I found that ground cinnamon floats on the top so I let 2 cinnamon sticks soak with the rice and water for 3 hours. Nice flavor! - 27 Oct 2007 (Review from Allrecipes USA and Canada)