Horchata

Horchata! Quite easy to make, but does take a while because the rice has to be left to soak for a few hours. Surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be a similar horchata-like drink in Japan (that I know of), where rice is kind of a big thing... For this recipe, I would soak one or two cups of rice at a time over a few days as I continued to pour each bit of rice water into a big jar I kept in the fridge. Takes more time, but then you don't have to plow yourself with eating so much rice all at once. Also, since I always soak my rice for a few hours anyway before I cook it, this was a great way to reuse all this wonderful rice water. My drink came out brownish because I used brown sugar, but you can use white sugar if you like for a more traditional milky color. Horchata tends to be a simple drink with rice water, sugar, and cinnamon, but I added other spices too. Feel free to omit the optional spices if you like, but I think they added a nice flavor. Hope you enjoy!



Makes approx. 2 liters, can take a few days to make.

Ingredients:

Big ass glass (or plastic) jar, to hold at least 2 or so liters. Keep in fridge.
White rice, 4 cups unwashed (you can do a cup a day)
Sugar, 3 tablespoons(you can add more later if it's not sweet enough, start with 2 if you're like me and don't fancy sugary things)
Cinnamon sticks, 2 whole
Cinnamon powder, 1 teaspoon
Clove, 1 whole (optional)
Nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
Star anise, 1 chunk (optional)

In a small pot, add the sugar, cinnamon sticks, and cinnamon powder. Also add the optional spices if desired. Pour about 1/4 cup water into the pot and turn up the heat to medium-high. Stir occasionally. Once mixture boils, lower the heat to medium or low and continue to simmer and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Pour this mixture with all the spices into your big glass jar and let it sit on the counter to cool off. Once the mixture is cool[ish], place in fridge.

In the pot you usually cook your rice in (or your rice cooker pot), place a cup of uncooked white rice. Add water to cover the top of the rice, and swish around with your clean hands. DON'T throw this water away. Let the rice soak for AT LEAST 2 hours (but preferably overnight if possible).

**If you want to use all 4 cups of rice at once, by all means be my guest. Just remember to eat all your rice when you cook it later, you'll likely be sharing :)

Once the rice has soaked, pour the water and now soaked rice into a large bowl with a strainer as such:



Remove the strainer, and put the rice back into the rice cooker/pot for you to cook later (with fresh water). Now pour the milky white colored water from the bowl into the big jar with the sugary mixture. Mix well. Place back in the fridge and allow to chill.

**Using a strainer like above helps to get all that rice water out of the soaked rice, while simply pouring it out by hand lets the delicious murkiness [i.e. the good stuff] settle at the bottom and become harder to get out. So try to use any kind of strainer to get all that goodness out and into your horchata.

Continue to do this over a few days until you have 2 liters worth. Or, you could just taste the horchata each time you add more rice-water to see if you think it's ready and suits your tastes. If the contents have settled, shake the jar, or swish the horchata around with a spoon before serving. Serve well chilled, in a glass with a few ice cubes if desired.

Note: it took me a while to realize that the key to good horchata is to use murky rice soaking water (duh, I know right...), so don't expect to make 2 liters worth using only 1 cup of rice, then you'll just have sugar water.