Brown Rice Horchata

Horchata de arroz is a deliciously refreshing Mexican beverage made from rice, milk, sugar and cinnamon and served chilled over ice. Wonderful for those who are lactose intolerant if you substitute the milk for almond milk.

Similar to my Avena recipe, which is made with cooked oatmeal instead, this is a great raw alternative and naturally gluten-free. It's usually made with white rice but I experimented with brown rice and raw sugar and the results were lovely. Sweeten to your taste or even experiment with stevia or Splenda for those of you on a restricted sugar diet.


Brown Rice Horchata
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 5 • Serving Size: 1 cup • Points: 3 pts • Points+: 4 pts  
Calories: 137.5* • Fat: 0.7 g • Protein: 2.9 g • Carb: 31.4 g • Fiber: 1.3 g
Sodium: 30.7 mg
 

• 1 cup rinsed brown rice (I used short grain brown rice)
• 4 cups water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/3 cup raw sugar or agave (or more to taste)
• 1 tsp dark vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon plus more to top

Soak the rice overnight or at least 8 hours in water with cinnamon sticks.

The next day discard cinnamon sticks and blend the rice and water in your blender water at the highest speed for about 5 minutes. Pass through a fine mesh sieve about two times to catch all the gritty bits. (A stocking works great) Discard the remaining rice pulp.

Pour into a pitcher, add skim milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and mix well by stirring. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve fill a glass with ice, pour horchata into a glass and sprinkle a little cinnamon on each serving just before drinking.

*This was tricky to calculate, I discarded about 1/2 cup rice pulp so I deducted this from nutritional info.