A yummy sugar free, gluten free and vegan drink. Flavoured with cinnamon, it makes a great Christmas drink. Adapted from a recipe in Dairy Free Delicious by Katy Salter.
- 1/2 cup (100g) rice
- 1 cup (140g) blanched almonds
- 1 small cinnamon stick
- 1 tbsp rice syrup*, or sweeten to taste with stevia to keep sugar free
- 2-3 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 quart (1 litre) cold water
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Cover the rice, almonds and cinnamon stick with water in a large bowl and leave for 8 hours, or overnight.
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Rinse well and drain, then place in a blender (it's a good idea to chop the cinnamon stick into slightly smaller pieces at this point) with the sweetener, vanilla extract and water. Blitz until creamy and combined.
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Strain the mixture through a sieve lined with a muslin into a bowl or jug. I find it useful to gather the muslin together and squeeze at this point to get the last bits of liquid through the sieve.
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Discard the dry mixture, and serve the horchata cold or warm with ground cinnamon on top, if desired.
*rice syrup is classed as a free sugar by the World Health Organisation, but converts to glucose, not fructose, in the body, and so is less of a strain on the body, and particularly the liver. If you wish to make this drink totally sugar free, and not just fructose free, omit the rice syrup and replace with liquid stevia to taste, if desired.