Mahanandi

Living in Consciousness ~ Indi(r)a’s Food and Garden Weblog

Homemade Rice Milk (Horchata)

Homemade Rice Milk
Homemade Rice Milk

Simple, inexpensive and adaptable to many flavors, rice milk is like glacial water. Thick, creamy and sweet. My recipe is loosely based on the Horchata that they serve at mom and pop style Mexican restaurants. Rice and almonds ground together and I flavored the milk with cardamom and jaggery. This is my first try and we both, Vijay and I, liked the result very much. Here is how I prepared it:

Ingredient list:
(Fills 4 small glasses)

3/4 cup – brown basmati rice
1/3 cup – almonds
6 cardamom pods- seeds coarsely crushed
6 cups – water
1/4 cup – jaggery (or sugar)

Wet grinder or blender


Brown Basmati Rice and Almonds

1: Soak almonds in warm water for about 30 minutes and then peel the skins.
Grind rice to fine, using a blender or spice grinder, until a semolina like texture is achieved.

Pulverized Brown Basmati Rice and Almonds without skins

2: Combine the rice powder, almonds and cardamom. Add about 4 cups of water and mix. Keep the mixture covered overnight.

Rice, Almonds and Cardamom covered with water for overnight soak Rice, Almonds and Cardamom covered with water for about 12 hours
Rice, Almonds and Cardamom ~ Before and After Overnight Soak

3: Next morning, place the mixture and jaggery in a stone grinder or blender. Gradually adding two cups of water, blend to smooth. Pour the rice milk through cheesecloth or filter into a bowl. Gently squeezing/stirring, extract the milk. Refrigerate the rice milk for about 15 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

If you wish, add lemon or orange juice and bananas to the milk and blend to make a great tasting rice milk smoothie.

Horchata, Rice milk for JFI:Rice Food blog event
Refreshing Rice Milk ~ for JFI: Rice, hosted by Sharmi of Neivedyam

Kitchen Notes:
The idea here is to use unpolished, unmilled rice. If you think for a minute, it’s easy to see that nutrient-rich brown rice makes a great tasting milk than the one prepared with polished, white rice. And, brown rice goodness and basmati’s sweetness make brown basmati, a perfect choice to prepare rice milk.

Recipe idea for leftover rice-almond sediment: Vennai Puttu (Sweet from Tamilnadu, India)

Posted by Indira©Copyrighted in Almonds,Biyyamu (Rice),Brown Basmati,Jihva For Ingredients (Saturday September 1, 2007 at 9:42 pm- permalink)
Comments (29)

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29 comments for Homemade Rice Milk (Horchata) »

  1. I have always been happy with the rice milk that we find in stores. But making it at home sounds a lot more interesting,i will give this a try. Thank you Indira.

    Comment by Archana — September 1, 2007 @ 9:58 pm

  2. This is a beautiful one…have not heard of rice milk- I first tried your soy milk, and Im surely trying this one next! Will keep you posted…thanks for this lovely new introduction

    Comment by nandita — September 1, 2007 @ 10:10 pm

  3. Never heard of this before. But it sounds very simple and looks absolutely delicious.Recipe bookmarked! 🙂 Thanks Indira.

    Comment by Madhuli — September 1, 2007 @ 10:31 pm

  4. Me too, I’ve never heard of a drink called rice milk. I’ll try it, hope the kids like it. I’m trying to make them consume nuts and this has almonds. Thanks Indira.

    Comment by Prathima — September 1, 2007 @ 10:58 pm

  5. I’ve been a silent reader of your blog for a long time, and it is simply superb, both the content and photography. This recipe sounds delicious. Sometimes I also add 3-4 soaked dates along with jaggery and is’s one of my favorite drinks. Exclude Jaggery to make an all RAW drink. Please keep writing.

    Comment by Gangadhar — September 1, 2007 @ 11:21 pm

  6. Indira,
    Never heard of Rice milk, sounds delicious

    Comment by Sreelu — September 2, 2007 @ 12:06 am

  7. Never had rice milk but it looks delicious

    Comment by Happy Cook — September 2, 2007 @ 1:51 am

  8. Indira,

    I was keenly awaiting your entry for JFI:Rice. I was wondering what unique recipe would Indira conjure out of Rice? And Lo Behold! There you are with the recipe for Rice Milk. Exquisite. Brilliant.

    Comment by Sapna — September 2, 2007 @ 5:46 am

  9. I’ve only heard of Genji, made with par boiled rice. Yours is just fantastic. As I was reading the recipe, I was actually feeling the taste in my tongue. thanks for the recipe. Excellent entry for the JFI.

    Comment by Mythreyee — September 2, 2007 @ 8:38 am

  10. Wow, home made rice milk I am sure is a superb treat! Maybe it is time for me to take a break from Rice Dream 🙂
    Thank you Indira!

    Comment by Roopa (KitchenAromas) — September 2, 2007 @ 8:48 am

  11. This is a very healthy, new and simple recipe. Will any other rice work? very delicious looking. Thanks for the nice one.

    Comment by sharmi — September 2, 2007 @ 9:40 am

  12. This is a great recipe for vegans. I’m so happy that even vegans in India can try this at home, as soy milk and rice milk is not widely avilable across India.

    Indira, Thanks for the great recipe!

    Comment by Kumudha — September 2, 2007 @ 10:08 am

  13. This Horchata is also my favourite beverage to order in Mexican restaurants! Recently we were in Spain and I got to try the Spanish version, which is a little bit different from the Mexican. It was so very delicious, with a slightly grainier texture than the Mexican kind. Of course I had to do some research as soon as I got home but alas, I found that it’s made with an obscure ingredient called “tigernut,” which I don’t think I’ll find where I live 🙁 . Oh well. I will try your version instead!

    Comment by Preeta — September 2, 2007 @ 12:16 pm

  14. I am blown away by this post. Only you can make this possible :).

    Comment by Suganya — September 2, 2007 @ 1:52 pm

  15. Hi Indira:
    Beautiful blog and i love the horchata. When I order it at a local Mexican restaurant, they are surprised I know about it. The bestest! Now I know how to make it too!.

    BTW, is the brown basmati essential? We have regular basmati, or brown rice.

    Looking forward to trying this out.
    Best

    Comment by Arun Shanbhag — September 2, 2007 @ 7:46 pm

  16. hm..As usual you rock! Great recipe Indira! What makes your innovations more adorable is the simplicity of the ingredients and following tradition methods of preparation to preserve the nutireints to the fullest extent. Thanks for this one again. I would like to cook this in low flame to make a sweet Ganji whithout filtering for my younger one. Would try it and let you know. I have posted a recipe for Okra stuffed with your kobbari kaaram! Thanks for all you share with us!

    Comment by Nirmala — September 2, 2007 @ 10:42 pm

  17. I made this today. Had a glass full. It was refreshing! You know what did I do with the remaining milk ? Cooked it in slow flame to make a porridge and that wasa hit with my younger girl and my nephew (8 months old). Thanks a lot for the wonderful recipe Indira! And the cooked porridge tasted very much like the “Vennai Puttu” we used to make.

    Happy to hear that little darlings liked it. The vennai puttu idea is really ingenious, Nirmala.
    -Indira

    Comment by Nirmala — September 3, 2007 @ 10:41 pm

  18. I like your recipe and thank you very much.You are so detailed and the results are awesome. I am Vegan and also I do not take any soy products. Is there anyway you could guide me to how to make brown rice yogurt and tofu? I miss my yogurt so much. Your support is very much appreciated.
    Best wishes,
    J. Arami

    Comment by jay arami — February 12, 2008 @ 5:44 am

  19. So this milk is not cooked? I tried, but it tastes like raw starch. When I cooked it, on the other hand, the rice makes a kind of glue. I will also try to cook the milk alone, after discarding the rice.

    Comment by Petr — March 13, 2008 @ 11:30 am

  20. i never tried rice milk b4 n im really eager 2 give it a try. ur recipe really sounds interesting n easy bt izit really safe to make it at home without sterilization? any chances of contamination by microbes?

    Comment by AppleMag — April 7, 2009 @ 12:13 am

  21. I am glad to be of Mexican decent to fully enjoy such Agua Frescas all my life. Even though one does not need to be Mexican to partake.

    Comment by LoRick — August 25, 2009 @ 12:05 am

  22. horchata is not rice milk, but rice water. it should be clear not milky. the horchata sold as rice milk is not traditional horchata, but made to suit non hispanic tastes

    Comment by antonio — October 16, 2009 @ 3:26 pm

  23. can anybody please inform me the address of departmental store within chennai where i can get the rice milk.
    with regards & thanks.

    Comment by barathi — January 19, 2010 @ 12:32 am

  24. […] Re: Lets share our feelings — Season 4 girls my teacups are much better now,,looks like they will need a course of treatments(like a beauty parlour package)..thanks again. tikka, i found this on net how to make rice milk at home..u can omit the almonds in the recipe and may be give it a try if you find it intresting.. […]

    Pingback by Lets share our feelings -- Season 4 - Page 137 - IndusLadies — April 16, 2010 @ 3:34 am

  25. thank u so much for sharing ur recipe with all, its really helpful for people like who is allergic.( milk or soy ) Really a wonderful site.

    Comment by revathi — September 12, 2010 @ 3:30 pm

  26. […] Mahanandi » Homemade Rice Milk (Horchata) – … – 25 comments for Homemade Rice Milk (Horchata) » I have always been happy with the rice milk that we find in stores. But making it at home sounds a lot more …… […]

    Pingback by Rice Dream Horchata | Amazon Supply — December 18, 2014 @ 12:32 pm

  27. […] After the third mixing cycle,once the mixture is soft add the peanut butter(if using)  and fold it in, lightly for just two or three times.Put it back into the freezer and keep freezing until it is firm. Note: You can find the recipe for home made rice milk  here , here or here. […]

    Pingback by VEGAN CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM / RICE MILK CHOCOLATE ICECREAM – hobby — March 9, 2015 @ 5:20 pm

  28. Do we have to boil the rice milk once done? I ask because soy milk was boiled after it was done.

    Comment by usha — July 7, 2015 @ 10:51 am

  29. how color of this rice milk is changed..but i think its tasty,..:)

    Comment by website development — March 9, 2018 @ 3:17 pm

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