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RICE & ALMOND MILK

My kids and I all have varying degrees of lactose intolerance and we spend a lot of money buying rice milk each week. A few years ago I started making my own rice milk from brown rice, but it was time consuming as I had to simmer brown rice for 2.5 hours. 

 

A friend of mine recently starting making rice milk using brown rice in her cheap imitation thermomix machine. I don't have one of these magic machines, but she gave me the recipe to try at home.

I have experimented and modified my friend's recipe to come up with some very easy alternatives to making rice milk with brown rice.

Whenever I make this milk, my toddler will have about 2 glasses of it freshly made, he loves it.

Brown rice is rich in the bone-building mineral magnesium, the immune-boosting antioxidant selenium, and manganese which is a mineral important for keeping up the body’s natural defences.  Almonds adds flavour as well as calcium and many other healthy nutrients. You could also add some sesame seeds for extra calcium.

This recipe makes 1 litre of milk - to make 2 litres at a time, just double everything except the water and follow as per recipe; then after whizzing it up, strain into a large jug and add another litre of water and stir.

Ingredients:

½ cup brown rice flour
½ cup raw almonds
1 Tablespoon coconut oil (or other oil - for creaminess)

1 Tablespoon honey (for sweetness - optional)
pinch of salt
1 litre of water

I usually put the almonds and 1/3 of the water in the blender first just to break up the almonds. Then add the rest of the ingredients, adding the water last, and blend. I have a powerful blender, but if you don't you can always use almond meal instead.

I don't strain mine, but if you don't like “bits” in your milk you can use a fine mesh strainer or nut milk bag.

I have also made this using cooked brown rice instead of the brown rice flour and this worked just as well. On another occasion I needed a cup of milk for a recipe but had none in the fridge, so I just got a cup of water and added 1 tablespoon of brown rice flour and it worked fine.

My next task is to try and grind brown rice in my blender or food processor to make my own brown rice flour, but if that doesn't work I am going to borrow my friend's imitation thermomix to see if it can do it. That way I can buy organic brown rice and have brown rice flour on the ready for all my recipes.

Coconut Milk

If you have ever wanted to make your own coconut milk, try this recipe:

1 cup raw coconut flakes

1 litre of purified water

Blend. There is no need to strain. Will store in refrigerator for a least a week.

Enjoy!