Hola Horchata!

Have you ever had Horchata? No? Don't worry, it's not contagious! (Although it might be slightly addictive.) It's a traditional Mexican drink that goes well with spicy food, in theory because it acts as an antidote to the heat left behind by the capsaicins in hot peppers. I haven't tested that theory in the same way the guys at Mythbusters tested their various remedies for hot chili peppers, but it's a sound enough theory and last Sunday we made Bean and Cheese Quesadillas in the Kids Café class with real jalapenos in our salsa, so I thought Horchata (or-CHA-tah) would be a great accompaniment. Because we've only got two hours in class I started it for them before they got there. Not for the impatient among us, Horchata is essentially rice milk flavored and sweetened with cinnamon and sugar, and it's a project (albeit an incredibly simple one) that takes a minimum of several hours as the rice "steeps" in cool water, creating a milky liquid.

Every week I spend a lot of time planning how I will present the ingredients to the children. While I typically pre-measure most of the ingredients for my Tots 'n Pans, this group requires a challenging mix of ingredients they can measure for themselves and ingredients I measure for them. When I get it right things run smoothly and the kids get the most enjoyment out of their lesson. Aesthetically, I think it's important to at least display fruits, vegetables, and legumes in their most whole forms. Knowing what an ingredient looks like before it's sliced or diced helps kids make an important connection to their food. 

This week we had lots of wonderful, fresh ingredients to work with

The kids couldn't believe they'd be making their own tortillas, but they jumped right in, enthusiastically creating small balls of dough that they would later shape and cook. Of course, rolling tortillas is always a challenge, and what we ended up with in this class more closely resembled East Indian Naan, but the process was authentic—mixing, resting, and rolling the dough by hand—and the flavor was wonderful.

If you look closely you can see paper towels on each child's cutting board—that's the dough resting.

 

And there's Rachel, mixing her salsa. A few squished beans, some cheese, and a little time over the fire later and we had some wonderful quesadillas festooned with sour cream and avocado. The horchata was a resounding success, although some of us learned that sometimes more of a good thing—in this case, cinnamon—is  just, well…not so good!