Gutsy Cooks Club - October Rice: Horchata

I am excited to be posting for the first time with the Gutsy Cooks Club. Though I have a passion for baking, cooking is my daily joy and challenge. This group posts a monthly theme with weekly recipe options. For more information and how to join in, check out the Gutsy Cooks Club.

...and on to the cooking...

This month the club will be cooking with rice. Oh, glorious rice. I have had a long and ever changing relationship with rice. From the boring, to the exotic, I have come to love this simple staple. After living in Japan I gained confidence in using rice as a base, a side, pounded or grilled and have come to love all the variations and flavors it comes in.

Monica did an amazing job of putting together a list of rice recipes. This week the theme is "Unusual and Out of the Box Use of Rice". I chose horchata.

I know, not a difficult recipe to start out my club membership, but I have tried making horchata before. It was a more complex recipe that left me feeling blah. It was good, but not great and required so much work that I don't know if I would want to do it again. My husband loves horchata, so I wouldn't mind finding a great recipe for it.

 David Lebovitz's Horchata recipe is simple, delicious and just what I was looking for! Check his site for the exact recipe.

First it starts with the rice...

Just a small amount of rice, pulverized up into a coarse meal. Now, that is what I call out of the box rice usage.


Whiring it up in my blender there was a fine rice dust seeping through the cracks in the lid. I highly suggest using a towel to cover things.




I would say if Blendtec says it can grind up a hockey puck, it can definitely do a number on some measly grains of rice.

Then comes the water to cover the rice. I soaked my rice with a cinnamon stick overnight.

Put it through a few layers of cheesecloth to filter out those bits of rice...

Add the sugar and rice milk, then pour over ice with a dusting of cinnamon and enjoy!