Brown rice milk, home made

Some of my friends wondered (and asked) why I didn’t make my own rice milk, just like almond– and coconut milk. Yes, it’s that simple to prepare different kinds of plant based drinks. Well, previously I knew only the storebought versions, and whenever I read the nutrition data on the label, it always showed a relatively high carbohydrate content. I thought this was a consequence of the high carb content of rice itself, so I made a mental note stating that rice milk is a high carb drink. Still, I tried homemade rice milk and it turned out I was wrong: instead of ~10g CH/100 ml for storebought rice milk, there is ~4,2g CH/100 ml in this homemade, tasty and by the way – really cheap plant based milk drink.

Ingredients for approx. 900 ml:
50g brown rice
800ml clean water
pinch of Himalayan salt
sweetener to taste
any other optional flavoring: homemade vanilla extract, cocoa/carob powder, etc.

sieve/filter

blender (1000 ml volume)

Rinse the rice and soak it overnight in a cool place (refrigerator). You do this to loosen up the rice hulk, and to give the rice grains some time to break down any digestion-inhibiting substances.
The next day, rinse off the rice and cook it slowly with a pinch of salt until really soft.
Put rice in a blender, fill it up with water until to 1000 ml volume, and blend thoroughly. Compared to almond milk, this is going to be a piece of cake for your blender.
If you’d like to use your rice milk for thikening e.g. a sauce, there is no need to filter it. If you need rice milk for drinks, you should simply filter it with a kitchen sieve, there is no need for a cheesecloth now. There you go: fresh rice milk, white as snow. 🙂

Why use brown rice for this recipe?

Usually I pick brown rice because its high fiber content and low glycemic index: obviously, as the milk is going to be filtered, this is not the case now. Brown rice is rich not only in fibers, but vitamin B as well, and all those vitamins are stored in the rice husk. These nutrients are water soluble, so I think it’s a good idea to use brown rice to make brown rice milk. And also, I don’t have white rice in my pantry. 🙂

Rice milk complements homemade almond– and coconut milk beautifully in our collection of home-made plant-based milk drinks: easy-to-make and affordable, just like coconut milk, but with a neutral taste, so it also great for making sauces, e.g. bechamel for lasagne, or even ice creams, etc. You can’t steam rice milk for lattes, but it’s great for a thick hot chocolate or spicy hot drinks.
Our home made brown rice milk contains ~4,2g CH/100 ml carbs (without optional sweeteners).