Mexican Horchata: Almond-rice cooler

This week at I Heart cooking clubs we are cooking with the theme earth day. Any recipe with use of products grown from the earth is allowed. Should i make something with fruit or root vegetables, No rice is grown from the earth too.We eat a lot of rice but i never had it as a drink. So i decided on this Recipe for Horchata; Almond-Rice cooler. It made me curious, how would it taste?

Rick Bayless says" This has the simplest and most familair flavors of the three most common aguas frescas: a slightly chalky, thirst-quenching refreshment with a flavor reminiscent of rice pudding. This drink is light and rich - exceptionally good hot-weather party fare, poured over ice."

Almond rice cooler
Rick Bayless, authentic mexican

Yield: about 1½ quarts, 6 to 7 servings

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons rice
6 ounces blanched almonds
1 inch cinnamon stick
3 2-inch strips of lime zest(colored rind only)
about 1 cup of sugar - sugar syrup

1. Soaking the rice and the almonds.
Thorougly pulverize the rice in a blender or spice grinder. Transfer to a medium bowl and add the almonds, cinnamon stick and lime zest. Stir in 2¼ cups of hot tap water, cover and let stand at least 6 hours or preferably, overnight.
2. Blending and straining.
Scoop the mixture into the blender jar and blend for 3 or 4 minutes, until it no longer feels very gritty. Add 2 cups of water, then blend for a few second more. Set a large sieve over a mixing bowl and line 3 layers of damp cheesecloth. Pour in the almond-rice mixture a little at a time, gently stirring to help the liquid pass trough. When all has been strained, gather up the corners of the cheesecloth and twist them together to trap the dregs inside. Squeeze the package firmly to expell all remaining liquid.
3. Finishing the Horchata.
Add 2 cups of water and stir in enough sugar to sweeten the drink to your taste. If the consistency is too thick, add additional water. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to serve. Stir before pouring.

Notes/ findings:
- The drink keeps for 5 days or more, covered and refrigerated.
- At the last moment i put in some more cinnamon, because i really like cinnamon.
- I used sugar syrup instead of sugar.
- And ofcourse i really liked this drink and Rick was wright it does taste like rice pudding!


Admitting this to:

Rice Pudding with Vanilla Bean, Orange and Rum for IHCC

This weeks theme at IHCC is kid at heart.

As a kid i was fond of rice pudding, so made this delicious recipe.

i left out the rum, cause i don't like that.

Recipe from foodnetwork.com
Cook time: 35 minutes
Yields: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
5 cups whole milk
2/3 cup Arborio rice or other short-grain white rice
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons dark rum
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
Orange segments

Directions
Combine the milk and rice in a heavy medium saucepan. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean; add the bean. Bring the milk to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the rice is tender, stirring frequently, about 25 minutes. Mix in the sugar, rum, and orange peel. Discard the vanilla bean. Cook until the mixture thickens, 5 to10 minutes longer.

Spoon the rice pudding into bowls. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 5 hours. Serve with orange segments.

Curried mince meat with peas

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
500g pack lean beef mince
3 tbsp mild or medium curry paste
400g can chopped tomatoes
150ml fresh beef stock, hot
Couple handfuls frozen peas
225g long-grain or basmati rice

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Increase the heat, add the mince and cook for 3-4 minutes, until browned all over. Stir in the curry paste, cook for 1 minute, then stir in the tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a fast simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring, until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Add the peas and cook for 5 minutes until the peas are tender. Season to taste.

2. Meanwhile, rinse the rice in a sieve under cold running water, to separate the grains. Put into a saucepan, cover with plenty of salted water and put over a high heat. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 12-15 minutes until tender. Drain well through a sieve, then fluff up the grains with a fork. Serve with the curried mince.

Daring Cooks march 2010: Risotto

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

This was my first challenge to participate in, and i liked it. I loved it to see everyones creative risotto's posted in the forum. And some are so fast with that..
I made Risotto alla Milanese(Saffron risotto). But it was the first time that i had to make my own stock, and it didn't turned out quite as well as i had hoped.
Here ar the recipes whe used.


Chicken Stock

Ingredients:
1 large chicken 2-3 pounds about 1 kg
chicken bones 2-3 pounds 1 kg
2 onions, roughly diced
1 medium leek - white part only, roughly diced
2 sticks celery, roughly diced
2 cloves garlic, halved
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp. white peppercorns ( Any type of whole peppercorn will do)
2 bay leaves (fresh or dried, it doesn't matter.)
peel of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp. allspice

Directions:

Wash the chicken and bones and places in a 5 Litre pot, cover completely with water and bring to a boil
Skim away any scum as it comes to the surface
Add the vegetables and bring back to a boil
Add the rest remaining ingredients and simmer very gently, uncovered for 1.5 hours
Carefully lift out the chicken, set aside. The chicken meat can be removed from the chicken, shredded off and used for other things like soup!
Simmer the stock gently for another hour. At , at the end you should have around 2 Liters
Carefully ladle the liquid into a fine sieve, the less the bones and vegetables are disturbed in this process the clearer the stock will be. 
The stock is now ready for use. Freeze what you don't need for later use.
Risotto Base

Ingredients:
olive oil 2 fluid oz 60 ml
1 small onion, quatered
rice 14 oz 400g
Any type of risotto rice will do. I use Arborio but the recipe itself says Vialone Nano. Another to look for is Carnaroli.
white wine 2 fl oz 60 ml
chicken or vegetable stock , simmering 2 pints 1 L


Directions:

Heat oil in a pan and add onion. Fry for a few minutes to flavour the oil then discard. (We diced ours and left it in as we like onion).
Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil and toast slightly.
Add the wine and let it bubble away until evaporated.
Add enough stock to cover the rice by a finger’s width (about an inch or two). Don't actually stick your finger in, it will be hot. Just eye it off.
Cook on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed.
Repeat Step 5 making sure to leave aside approximately 100 ml. of stock for the final step. .
Repeat, save 100ml for the final stage.
Once you are at this point, the base is made. You now get to add your own variation.

Saffron Risotto
30ml olive oil
1 onion
200 grams Arborio rice
100ml white whine
1l chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon Saffron
50g parmesan cheese

Take 100ml warm stock and ad the saffron.
Heat oil in a pan and add onion. Fry for a few minutes. Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil and toast slightly.
Add the wine and let it bubble away until evaporated.
Add enough stock(the stock with saffron first) to cover the rice by a finger’s width (about an inch or two).
Cook on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed.
Repeat Step 5 making sure to leave aside approximately 100 ml. of stock for the final step. .
Repeat, save 100ml for the final stage.
Stir the parmesan cheese true the finised risotto