did i say moms and pops are the best doordash-ers in the world?

many of my weekend days in high school started with eating traditional taiwanese breakfast at home. on sunny weekend mornings, my mom and dad would crawl through my mind when i was asleep, analyze my eating and wake-up behavior, sneak out of home quietly, and then come back with my favorite breakfast food from the store five blocks away. soon after i woke up, the food was served hot, and nicely plated on the porcelain bowl and plate with a spoon on the side.

at that age, good food was so easy to get, and thus so easy to be forgotten, too. now as my parents and i are an ocean apart, nostalgic and heartfelt food like a simple taiwanese breakfast is dearly missed.

a traditional taiwanese breakfast menu has so many food options to choose from - chinese donuts, bao, bun, chinese omelette, rice balls, flatbread, to name a few - but only two drink options are made available: soy milk or rice milk. growing up, i've been a rice milk girl. the rice milk is nothing like the rice milk you find at an american grocery store. it's creamy, nutty and brown, because it's made of roasted - almost burnt - peanuts. i always love to drink it hot, and feel it warming my body from inside to outside. and because of its already rich flavor, i love to pair it with a simple, flaky sugar pastry.

to make the rice milk closest to my memory, i was fortunate enough to borrow a soy milk maker from my coworker yu. if you do not have one, a blender and a fine mesh strainer would work, too. also, for health purpose, i did not over roast the peanuts, so the result is more grey than brown.

taiwanese style rice milk

inspired by old time memories

makes roughly 6 1/4 cups of rice milk

step by step

use soy milk maker

soak rice in water for six to eight hours, then filter out the water, pour in the soy milk maker.

put the peanuts in the pan, turn to medium heat, constantly stir until the nuts turn lightly brown, about 10-15 minutes. remove the peanuts from the pan and put in the soy milk maker.

put the sesame seeds in the pan. constantly stir them under medium heat until the oil and aroma release, about 5 minutes. then put the roast sesame to the maker.

pour the water in the maker, and press the "grain" button, about 25 minutes.

pour the hot mixture out to a container through a strainer and stir in both kinds of sugar.

you can enjoy the rice milk right away, or let it cool down to room temperature and refrigerate. it is good to be refrigerated for three to five days.

ingredients

medium-grain white rice - 1/2 cup

peanuts - 1 1/4 cup

unhulled black sesame seeds - 1 tbsp

light brown sugar - 2 tbsp

japanese light brown sugar - 1 tbsp

filtred water - 5 3/4 cup, and extra to soak rice