Not long ago we came up with this idea in the Vegansk festival in Oslo (December 2016). Our Norwegian distributor, Hilde (from Transforma) wanted to make vegan milk with a “Christmas touch” mixing the typical flavors of the traditional Norwegian sweets and food of the season.

We have chosen rice milk as the basis for this milk, since, internationally, it is the more popular seed and we have added almonds and loads of spices: ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom,…all typical of Scandinavian Christmases.

After a few tests we have picked this version.

For those of us who live in Southern Europe, the taste is different and exotic. Once again our chufamixers’ cultural exchanges have resulted in another delicious homemade plant milk.

Ingredients:

• 1 litre of hot water (70º)
• 100 grammes of rice (soaked overnight)
• 50 grammes almonds (soaked overnight)
• 2 stoned dates
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom
• A pinch of salt

Preparation:

1. Soak the rice and almonds overnight. If the almonds are toasted they don’t need to be soaked.
2. Throw away the water that was used for soaking and put the seeds with the rest of the ingredients in the Vegan Milker filter glass.
3. Fill the Vegan Milker container with ½ litre of hot water, insert the filter glass and mix for approximately 1 minute. (If there is too much pulp, add some of the half a litre of water which we have kept by).
4. Once the seeds have been well squeezed, add the remaining ½ litre of water and beat for another minute (maybe less) until all the ingredients are mixed well.
5. Leave the mixture to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
6. Remove the filter glass and squeeze the pulp gently with the mortar until the last drops come out.
7. When it has cooled down, put it in the fridge. It will last for between 3 and 5 days.

Tips and alternatives

This is a very aromatic and tasty milk. Just like other plant milks, we can drink it by itself or mixed with coffee or tea.

It’s also ideal for cooking with, but be careful with the starch from the rice since the milk can get very thick when heated. Making this characteristic a virtue, we can gently heat the milk for 10 minutes to get this thick, creamy texture and make the milk into a cream. It can then be served in little yogurt-type pots and eaten as a dessert.

You can also make a version of this pudding using chia seeds or psyllium. Put ¼ cup of chia seeds and ¾ cup of plant milk and stir well. In half an hour the milk will have thickened enough and will have the texture of a pudding. Serve accompanied by homemade jam.

If you are a chocolate lover, it is the perfect plant milk for adding a little bit of cocoa powder to turn it into a super-tasty hot chocolate.

With the Vegan Milker, our only limit is our imagination!

Cheers and a Happy New Year!