墨西哥米漿－Horchata
自從搬來加州以後，接觸了很多墨西哥食物。從一開始覺得很不習慣，很難吃，到現在對於墨西哥食物開始有些瞭解，甚至喜歡，那些西班牙文也不再是外星語言了。
這個墨西哥米漿其實跟中式的豆漿很相似，不過以肉桂調味，加了一點秋天的那種辣辣的味道，相當特別。第一次喝到這種米漿是在洛杉磯的市中心墨西哥集鎮上，我跟朋友下班了去逛完找東西吃。看到了小販有好多五顏六色的冷飲，就問他們可不可以試喝。第一個感覺是還不錯，肉桂的味道挺特別的，不過沒覺得有特別讓人回味的感覺。而且喝完了以後覺得有點膩膩的在喉嚨不太舒服，讓我想去找水喝沖淡點。直到有次來三藩市，在mission吃墨西哥素食，又點來喝。我這纔知道為什麼我的墨西哥裔的同事一直教我要喝喝看，真正好喝的米漿原來是沒有奶製品在裡面的：味道清甜，帶有淡淡的肉桂味，入口很順，而且喝完還想續杯。那杯20oz的飲料我不到5分鐘就喝完了，如果不是每一杯價格不便宜，我肯定會再點來喝的。
回去洛杉磯後我就開始尋找食譜自己試做。找了半天，終於找到一個我喜歡的，夏天冰鎮後配著冰塊特別舒服。
墨西哥米漿
Recipe adapted from David Lebovitz
Yield: ~1 Qt
Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup of white rice, do not wash
- 3 cup of water
- 1 stick of cinnamon (~3" long)
- Agave nectar (agave syrup)
- Unsweetened rice milk (store bought)
- In a blender/spice grinder/food processor, grind the rice. You're looking for a coarse coffee grind type of consistency.
One thing I find it very useful in grinding, is to always do it in pulse. After every pulse, shake up the solids so that the bigger pieces can have a chance to get close to the blades. This way, you won't end up with a wide variety of grind size, where some are extra fine and others are still very big pieces.
Note: If you want to be lazy, you can skip this step. Just measure out the rice and proceed to the next step. - Measure out 3 cup of water in a microwavable container. Microwave on HIGH until liquid is very hot. (Obviously, you can do this stove top as well)
- Transfer the rice (grind or whole) into a container, and pour the hot water over. Add the cinnamon stick and cover the container. Leave it on counter top till it has cooled back down to room temperature, then put it in fridge and store overnight.
- (8+ hours later.....mine actually was 24hr later) Pluck out the cinnamon stick, and using a blender, puree the rice/water mixture. Try to get the mixture as smooth as possible, so that the drink won't taste grainy later on.
- Line a sieve with double layers (minimum) of cheesecloth and strain the liquid mixture. Squeeze out the liquid at the end, while making sure none of the solids got passed through.
- Stir in the unsweetened rice milk (until the drink is creamy enough
for your taste) and Agave nectar (for sweetness). Refrigerate and serve
chilled.
Note: I left out the actual amount of rice milk and sweetener, because I think it really depends on the individual taste. Personally I don't like my drinks too sweet nor too creamy, so I like them to be on the lighter end of the spectrum. For this recipe, I added about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of rice milk, and used about 2 Tbsp of Agave nectar. I then serve drink with Agave bottle on the side, so that people can add more if they want.
Note: Obviously, feel free to use simple syrup (I would not recommend sugar, since it'd take forever to dissolve), or other type of sweetener. I'm just trying to be healthy and stick to natural, low calories sweetener.
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