Vegan Horchata Recipes

VEGAN HORCHATA ICE CREAM

Steps:

• Place coconut milk and coconut cream in the refrigerator.
• Place water and rice in a blender. Blend until rice is coarsely ground. Pulse until rice is finely ground. Pour mixture into a jar or bowl. Add vanilla bean halves and cinnamon stick pieces. Cover and refrigerate, 8 hours to overnight.
• Strain rice 'milk' mixture through cheesecloth. Scrape vanilla seeds from the pod and add to the milk. Discard rice pulp and cinnamon stick pieces.
• Blend strained rice milk, coconut milk, coconut cream, brown rice syrup, and rum until well combined.
• Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's directions, 15 to 20 minutes. Freeze the mixture for 2 to 3 hours before serving.

MEXICAN HORCHATA

Steps:

• Pour rice, water, and cinnamon into a blender and blend it until the rice is broken up and the water looks milky, let it sit overnight in the refrigerator.
• Using cheesecloth or a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher to remove the rice, pour the rice milk into a pitcher.
• Add the plant-based milk, sugar, and vanilla extract, mix well and enjoy it poured into a glass of ice.

VEGAN HORCHATA

Steps:

• Soak the almonds and rice in plenty of water for 12 to 24 hours. Drain and rinse, and transfer them to a blender. Add 5 cups water, and blend on the highest speed until smooth.
• Line a medium strainer with several layers of cheesecloth or a thin kitchen towel, and place it over a medium bowl. Pour the mixture through the strainer, gather the corners of the cloth and gently squeeze out all the liquid; discard the pulp.
• Return the liquid to the blender, add the maple syrup and vanilla and blend until combined. Pour the horchata into a jar, and refrigerate for up to 5 days. Serve chilled.

VEGAN HORCHATA

Steps:

• Grind the rice into a fine powder (a coffee grinder works perfectly). Remove the skins of the almonds by blanching them in boiling water: Drop the almonds in boiling water, scoop them out after about 30 seconds, and after they have cooled, the almonds should squirt right out of their skins when pressed between thumb and forefinger. Combine the ground rice, blanched almonds, cinnamon, and the seeds that have been scraped out of one vanilla bean, with 3 1/2 cups of water and let sit overnight, covered. The next day, pour the mixture into a blender and puree until smooth, adding the sugar and an additional 2 1/2 cups of water. Strain the Horchata using a strainer and cheesecloth. There will be a lot of solids. Press them against the cheesecloth-lined strainer to get out all of the liquid, but don't stop there. Pick up the cheesecloth to form a pouch and squeeze out every last drop with your hands. The final step is to add additional water to thin out the drink. The original recipe called for 2 cups, but I added only one. I liked the concentrated flavor, and I didn't want it to be too diluted.