Diet: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Paleo, Pescatarian, Soy Free, Vegetarian
Serves: 5
Total Time: 2 minutes

Description

A Mexican favourite: my own take on the horchata!

A horchata is a milky drink made from ground tiger nuts, almonds or rice and traditionally includes cinnamon and sugar. As I am always looking for ways that I can pack an extra health-kick into my recipes, I swapped the sugar out for raw honey, which retains vital enzymes and minerals compared to that of sugar.

My tiger lily drink also packs a punch of those brilliant omega-3 fatty acids in the form of chia seeds, making this a great drink for vegans who could be a little low on omega-3 fats (they are most common in animal products).

I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup tiger nuts (soaked in filtered water for 24 hours at room temperature)
• 4 cups filtered water
• 2 tbsp raw honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1 nut milk bag

Optional (to decorate)

• A small sprinkling of chia seeds

Method

1. Drain the tiger nuts that have been soaked overnight and add them into a blender.
2. Add the 4 cups of filtered water and blend until smooth.
3. Place the nut milk bag over a large mixing bowl. Now pour out the mixture into the bag. Squeeze the bag until you cannot get anymore liquid out.
4. Discard the pureed nuts from the bag. Or alternatively if you want to avoid wastage, you could de-hydrate them in an oven and reuse as a nut flour in another yummy recipe.
5. In the mixing bowl add the honey, cinnamon, vanilla extract and chia seeds and keep stirring for a few minutes. The seeds will start to thicken up within the liquid.
6. Pour the contents of the bowl back into the blender and give it 5 quick pulses. We just want to mix it a little and not completely blend as this will break up the chia seeds too much.
7. Serve in glasses with ice and a sprinkling of chia seeds on top to decorate, or pour into a pitcher and refrigerate for later. If refrigerating, then make sure to give everything a good stir before pouring.