horchata (vegan or dairy)

So I finally got around to making non powdered horchata...it's apparently pretty easy.

soak 1 cup rice (white or brown) and a cinnamon stick or 1 tsp cinnamon in 3 cups water.
Cover and leave it alone for 8-12 hours.
throw this in a blender and blend until the rice is powdered add 1/2 c sugar (or 1/4c crystallised stevia/splenda), 1 tsp real vanilla or almond and a few grates of nutmeg. add 3 more glasses of water or milk or almond milk or halvsies of both and blend again. It will be creamy and frothy with or without milk. strain through fine sieve or tea towel or old t shirt. squeeze the liquid through. chill. shake before serving as it will seperate. I add more nutmeg and cinnamon at serving time mmm.

• next I'm going to try starting with rice flour and see how that goes

ummm rice flour...not so good.

Rummaging the fridge papaya salad

Optimally you will have most of the ingredients on hand...except the sprouts and green papaya. Dinner will be ready in less than 15 minutes because I'm tired from going to 8 million places for groceries as is my wont and the last stop was the Thai market over at Berwyn where they sell prepped green papaya shreds for under 2$ a lb. This isn't a proper papaya salad. I just like it anyway.

For the sauce:

2 tb tamarind paste or 4 tamarind pods (soak either in 2tb water and squish until the water is DARK Brown

1 tb honey

2 tb soysauce

2 tb samabal oelek or sri racha

1 green onion

2 tb dried shrimp if you like but totally not necessary

mix this and toss with the other stuff

You'll need

1 lb shredded and seeded green papaya

3 tb peanuts chopped or crushed

basil

cilantro

baked tofu chunks

another chopped green onion

And any of the above you like:

leftover mushroom steak bits

broccoli leaves

any leftover lettuces that haven't wilted

mung sprouts if you want

pieces of fresh tomato

leftover cooked green beans

rehydrated cellophane noodles if you like (put 2 pkg mung/ yam noodles in a bowl and pour boiling water over them.drain and chill for later. Mix into salad after chilling.