I was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico a few weeks ago for my friend’s bachelorette party. We all ate a ton of delicious tacos, but this post is not about that. This post is about the beguilingly creamy, cinnamon-y drink we were served at two of the taco stands: horchata.
Horchata is a cold, sweet drink served over ice and made from rice, almonds, cinnamon, and sugar. I’ve tried making it a few times before, but it never turned out as luscious as I wanted. But I have cracked it!!! The trick? There are two:
- Grind the almonds and rice before soaking them overnight.
- Use ceylon cinnamon sticks, which are softer than the cassia cinnamon sticks that are usually sold in spice aisles and bulk bins.
I have an old, terrible blender. If a Vitamix is the Lamborghini of blenders, what I have is like a refrigerator box taped to a skateboard. I could never get the ingredients ground fine enough, which made the resulting drink super thin and bland. BUT I also have a little grinder for my coffee beans, which turned out to be perfect for pre-grinding the rice and almonds. So if you too have a less-than-efficient blender but do have a spice or coffee grinder, use that to blitz things up before the overnight soak! It’ll make it much easier for your blender to take care of the rest the next day.
My horchata is tanner and more speckled than the ones I had in Mexico, but if you use almonds without any skins and strain your horchata better, yours should end up more white and not as ecru. It doesn’t affect the taste, though!
Homemade Horchata
Adapted from Follow Me Foodie
Yield: about 5 cups
- 2/3 cups jasmine rice
- 1 1/4 cups sliced or slivered raw almonds
- 1 ceylon cinnamon stick
- 2 1/2 cups hot water
- 3/4 cups sugar
- Additional 2 cups cold water
Grind the rice and almonds in either a blender or spice grinder. Put into a heatproof bowl with the cinnamon stick and pour 2 1/2 cups of hot water over it. Stir to combine, then cover and let it soak overnight.
The next day, pour all of the contents (including the cinnamon stick) into a blender. Add 2 cups of cold water and blend it on the highest setting until it is as fine as possible. I usually put it on “Liquify” mode for about 5 minutes.
With the blender still running, add in the sugar and continue blending until it’s all well mixed. Stop the blender and strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Taste and adjust to your liking. If you want it sweeter, add more sugar. If you’d like it thinner, add in more water. You can even add a pinch of salt or splash of vanilla if you’d like!
Refrigerate the mixture until it’s cold and serve it over ice. The contents will likely settle, so stir it up before serving.
