Rice Milk

When you walk by the milk isle in a grocery store, you see regular milk, chocolate milk, almond milk, soy milk, rice milk. I have made almond milk before so I do know how it tastes. I am not a fan of soy products except for tofu. So, I didn't care about that. I wondered how the rice milk would taste. Because, if the process is the same as making almond milk, that means you are eating raw rice in liquid form and that doesn't sound too good. Does it?

I looked up on the web and most of the recipes tell you to simmer the rice for 3 hours and cook and then blend it with water. That is again like eating porridge. So, I came up with my own version. Next time, I am going to try toasting the rice and then soaking it and proceeding to bring out the nuttiness of the brown rice. I used brown rice for one reason only. It is sweeter than the white rice.

One Year Back -  Vegan Fondant
Ingredients: (Makes about 8 cups of thick milk)
Brown Rice - 1/2 cup (Don't use brown basmati. You could use white rice too)
Water - 8 cups divided use
Sugar or any sweetener of choice - 1/4 cup or as per taste
Flavorings - optional (vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom)

Method:
Soak rice in enough water for 6 hours or overnight. Rinse and drain. Take it in a blender and start grinding it adding enough water from the 8 cups to make a smooth paste. Don't pour all the water in to the blender. You want it to be a thick and smooth paste. Take the paste into a thick bottomed sauce pan. Rinse the blender with the water and add all the remaining water to the pan. Heat the pan at low heat and keep stirring. The paste will thicken and stick to the bottom. Keep stirring and once it comes to a simmer, let it stay like that for a minute or two and turn off the heat. There will be some lumps, a little bit stuck to the bottom and sides of the pan, but that is alright. Add sugar or sweetener of choice and mix well. Cover with a lid and let it stay there for an hour. Strain through a mesh strainer and store in refrigerator after it cools completely. Even when there is nothing added to thicken, this milk is very thick and creamy. Either you can add more water in the beginning or add some before using. Amount of sugar I have used was neither bland nor too sweet. It also depends on how sweet the brown rice is.

It doesn't even cost 50 cents to make this batch. I had no idea how much it would cost for 1/2 cup brown rice and 1/4 cup of sugar plus the gas charges. But it definitely won't be more than that.

If you are wondering what is the matter with me writing posts on tips one after the other, don't worry. You will get to see something that is authentic and is Indian soon.

Enjoy.